Maro Bedrosian: Tekeyan Schools in Armenia and Karabagh Are Always Our Focus
By Editor on Oct 31, 2009 in Armenia

Students at Vahan Tekeyan School in Gumri performed for the guests.
YEREVAN – Maro Bedrosian, currently residing in Houston, Texas, is the
Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA) chairman of the Board of
Administrators, as well as the treasurer of TCA Board of Directors. I
sat with her to inquire about the purpose of her visit, in general,
and in particular about the Sponsor a Teacher project that has been
tremendously successful since its inception in 2001. Through this
project, financial assistance is provided annually to the teachers and
other staff members of four schools in Armenia and one school in
Karabagh.

Bedrosian had first visited Armenia in 1980, and now, 29 years later,
she has come again on a visit with an important mission. Of course,
she no longer recognized Yerevan; filled with enthusiasm, she remarked
that the city has made a lot of progress and was impressed by the
beautiful Armenian girls everywhere. In her opinion, the city of
Yerevan does not give the impression that it is the capital of a poor
country, despite the fact that Armenia is referred to in America as
being a Third-World country. As for Karabagh, it was their first trip
to this land, and she and her nine-member group, from Chicago, Paris,
Detroit, Houston and Montreal, were overwhelmed by the natural beauty
of Nagorno Karabagh, had fallen in love with Gandzasar; they were
impressed by the Museum of History of Artsakh in Stepanakert, by the
guide Gayane, who had given them the tour of the museum and the
history of Artsakh in fluent English. She spoke about the Tekeyan
secondary school in the village of Berdzor, in the Lachin corridor,
where 200 pupils, nestled high up in the mountains, were learning
their mother language, their history, art, music, sciences, foreign
languages, and had presented them a wonderful cultural program
highlighting the man, the political activist, the `Prince of the
Poets,’ Vahan Tekeyan.

Students at the Karabagh School read poems by Vahan Tekeyan.

Bedrosian had also been invited to participate in the ADL-Armenagan
convention. Bedrosian said, `Prior to the opening of the convention,
together with fellow party members having arrived from the diaspora, I
met with the members of the ADL-Armenagan Executive Committee. I was
very glad to see, and I was favorably impressed, that not only
highly-educated and knowledgeable but also young forces have been
assembled, which inspires confidence that this time, the Armenian
Democratic Liberal Party in Armenia will invariably be successful. The
spirit, the ideals of the convention, which is the unification of all
ADL circles, was very encouraging. That will have a very important
role and significance in all subsequent activities.’

Nine years ago, in view of massive emigration of the Armenians to
Russia, Europe, and USA, the Board of Directors of TCA in the USA and
Canada spearheaded a project to help teachers stay in Armenia and
continue educating the children. The 13 members of the Board of
Administrators were given the task of raising funds for the teachers
and other staff members working in then three TCA-sponsored schools in
Armenia. Over the years, the number of the schools sponsored have
increased to five, four of them in Armenia: Yerevan with 600 students;
Garpi with 892 students; Gumri with 800 students where classes are
held in two sessions; Stepanavan with 250 students, and one school in
the village of Berdzor, Karabagh with 200 students. The contribution
to each teacher has gone up from $120 annually to each teacher and $20
to each school employee, to $130 per teacher and $30 per school
worker. Every year, members of the TCA Board of Administrators,
members of the TCA Board of Directors and sometimes, other guests,
together with TCA Yerevan office Chairman, Rouben Mirzakhanian, and
TCA Secretary Gayane Mouradian, visit all the schools and distribute
the funds.

Maro Bedrosian, seated center, with Karabagh School Principal Anahid
Kossagyan, Detroit ADL Chairman Hagop Alexanian, students and guests
Throughout these years, the project has been supervised with care and
the sense of responsibility both towards the sponsors and the
recipients. The names of the sponsors are published in ADL media every
year and letters of thanks are sent to donors, giving the names of the
teachers they have sponsored. Visits to schools are recorded and
photographed and the lists of the teachers are documented. Articles
about the fundraising, as well as the dispersement of the funds appear
in Azg newspaper in Yerevan as well as in Abaka in Montreal, Canada,
the Armenian Mirror-Spectator in Boston and Nor Or in Los Angeles.

When asked how the group raises fund each year, she replied: `Working
in America isn’t easy. The streets of America are not covered with
dollars, as some people living outside the country might think. People
work hard in America to earn money. But, regardless of all
considerations, the Armenian people living in the diaspora are truly
patriotic. Regardless of the difficulties they face, they place great
value on the idea of helping the homeland. They appreciate the
important work being done by the teachers, and with this awareness,
they contribute to this program.’

Students at Vahan Tekeyan School in Yerevan performed for the guests.
Bedrosian shared her impressions of the schools which they had
visited. `We have one more school to visit, the TCA school in
Stepanavan, but so far, we have had a great time in Khalatian,
principal of the TCA school in Yerevan; Mr. Arsen Ohanian, principal
of the TCA School in Garpi and Mr. Hovhannes Bedrosian, principal of
the TCA school in Gumri. We had the honor of meeting with
Mr. Baghdassarian, the head of the Board of Education of Karabagh, who
had come to the Berdzor school with his wife to meet with us.

We also had the honor of meeting with the mayor of Garpi village,
Ardak Aprahamian,who had come to meet with us at the school. We were
amazed to see the care, the eagerness on the part of the teachers to
teach the children the best, the very best that they could.

`We fell in love with the neat looking, smart students who welcomed
us, interacted with us in their classrooms and entertained us in each
and every school that we visited. We were stunned by the hospitality
of the schools. We were touched by the appreciation and gratitude
expressed by the teaching faculty for the generosity of our Armenian
brothers and sisters in the US and Canada, for their care and
sensitivity towards our needs.

`Marietta, each one of us, and at times we were over 20 people
visiting a school, will remember all of this for a long time to come,
all that we saw, and we will leave Armenia with great satisfaction
with what is being done for the benefit of the children attending
these schools. We will leave Armenia prouder than ever for who we are
as Armenians – a nation that is determined to live – and we could see
that in the eyes of those children that we met.’

Principal of Vahan Tekeyan School of Gumri, Hovhannes Bedrosian (third
from right), is surrounded by guests at the entrance of the school.

Bedrosian concluded: `Despite the existence of tens of Armenian day
schools, Saturday schools, Sunday schools, it is getting increasingly
difficult to preserve the Armenian language and identity in the
diaspora. This is a concern to all of us living in the diaspora. We at
Tekeyan Cultural Association look to the homeland with confidence
where our language, history, culture flourishes, where the Armenian
identity is preserved, and this gives us the necessary moral strength
to carry on the work that we have started some 62 years ago,
preserving the Armenian heritage and promoting the Armenian language
and culture in the diaspora, and also helping develop close and warm
relationship between the diaspora and Armenia for the benefit of our
nation.’