UNICEF.org
April 18 2009
In Armenia, the chance to develop schools that children love to attend
Education experts from the Central and Eastern Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States are meeting 24-27 April in Geneva
to discuss how to provide quality education for all girls and boys
through child-friendly schools. Here is one in a series of related
stories from the region.
By Emil Sahakyan
SYUNIK PROVINCE, Armenia 17 April 2009 ` Located 200 km from Armenia’s
capital, Yerevan, the village of Ishkhanasar in Syunik province
represents a sad picture of rural poverty.
The village is now home to 250 people, most of whom are very poor and
originally came to Armenia from Azerbaijan, fleeing the conflict over
Nagorno Karabakh.
Dangerous conditions
The village school is located in an old Soviet-style building that
once was an entertainment club for collective farmers and still
carries the name of Lenin. It’s no wonder that the school has only 40
students, as conditions inside are far from child-friendly.
On the contrary, the school is dangerous for children to
attend. Falling walls and ceilings, no heating in the winter,
inadequate sanitary facilities and the absence of minimum supplies all
make it a dangerous place not only for children, but for teachers as
well.
"I was teaching history to children when suddenly I heard a crack and
immediately a big piece of wall fell down just several steps from me,"
said school Principal Ara Davtyan.
A big difference
Just a few kilometres away from Ishkhanasar, the situation is
different. The school in nearby Shaki village has been renovated and
is well maintained by students and teachers alike. It has about 200
students and is a centre of community life.
© UNICEF Armenia/2008
This school in the village of Ishkhanasar, Syunik province, represents
a sad image of rural poverty in Armenia.
However, that was not the situation until 2007, when a pilot project
on child-friendly schools was introduced in Syunik province by UNICEF,
the Goris Teachers’ Union and the non-governmental organization Kapan
Teachers.
"When we first heard about this initiative, we were hesitating about
our participation," said Deputy Principal Rima Sargsyan. "But it was
worth taking a risk and participating in the project, as it helped us
to identify our strong and weak points, and put us on the right
track."
Meeting standards for ‘child friendly’
The roots of the project were laid down in 2006, when the Ministry of
Education and Sciences, with support from UNICEF, developed a
Child-Friendly School Framework outlining requirements that a school
has to meet in order to be called child-friendly.
Such schools foster an environment in which children are motivated and
able to learn. Staff members are friendly and welcoming, and attend to
students’ health, emotional and safety needs. Child-friendly schools
recognize and encourage children’s growing capacities as learners by
providing a culture that focuses on meeting the needs of each
individual child.
In the course of the pilot project in Armenia, seven schools that
managed to meet the requirements were nominated as ‘child-friendly’
and received special prizes.
"The project helped schools to become more organized and improve the
quality of lessons, and served as an effective self-assessment tool
and a means to mobilize communities around education and child rights
issues," said UNICEF Education Officer Alvard Poghosyan.
Hopes for a small village
In 2008, UNICEF ` in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and
Science, NGO partners and local branches of the National Institute of
Education ` rolled out the child-friendly school project in Armenia’s
Shirak and Lori provinces. The partners started by raising
child-friendly school awareness among school administrators, teachers,
parents and children themselves.
As a result, around 80 per cent of schools in the provinces are now
developing plans to introduce child-friendly school standards.
This year, UNICEF is planning to assess progress made so far in
introducing the child-friendly school concept in Armenia. Following
the assessment, an action plan identifying steps to scale up the
concept in the country will be devised. Globally, UNICEF is rolling
out the ‘Child-Friendly School Manual’, a practical guidebook, which
will help countries design and implement child-friendly schools that
are most appropriate to their circumstances.
Looking at his shabby classrooms, the principal of the Ishkhanasar
village school said provincial authorities promised to start
construction of a new school building in 2009 ` raising the hope in
this small village that one day its school, too, will be
child-friendly.
untry/armenia_49388.html