Dec 10 2020
The offensive by Turkish-backed Azerbaijan on the Armenian-populated regions of Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) during the recent 44-day war has left 71 schools and 14 kindergartens destroyed, disrupting education for nearly 30,000 Armenian students in the region. These exclude the schools and kindergartens in the communities currently under Azerbaijani control. To mend the disruption, two Armenian technology executives have joined forces to provide technology workshops for the Armenian refugee children, now living in temporary accommodations throughout the neighboring Republic of Armenia.
Seda Papoyan, founder of Girls In Tech is now launching Tech workshops for displaced Armenian … [+] children.
Seda Papoyan
Seda Papoyan, founder of Girls In Tech, Armenia–a chapter of the global non-profit designed to end gender inequality in high-tech industries and startups (who also founded CoderDojo Armenia) has joined forces with Sisian Ghahramanians, Senior Manager, Developer Monetization & Growth at California based Fyber, to provide technology workshops for the displaced children in Armenia. In my recent virtual interview with Papoyan, she explained how the initial idea and the partnership was forged.
Jackie Abramian: What initiated the idea to provide technology workshops for the displaced children of Artsakh now living in Armenia–and the partnership with Sisian Ghahramanians?
Seda Papoyan: I’ve been engaged in setting up free coding clubs for children in Armenia since 2018 which was actually how I got to know Sisian. We got connected on LinkedIn and when she traveled to Armenia, we met and discussed possible future collaborations. Sisian was among the first to donate and spread the word about our “STEMpower Girls Armenia” –a project we were fundraising for before the start of the September 27th Artsakh war. Sisian offered to support the project as her birthday fundraiser which was coming up in November. Well, the Artsakh war came faster than her birthday–so together with Sisian we decided to also direct our efforts towards the displaced Armenian children of the Artsakh war.
Children sheltering in bunkers during the war in Artsakh gathered around a teacher to continue their … [+] education.
Karen Mirzoyan
Abramian: How many Artsakh children are displaced and now living in Armenia?
Papoyan: Some 24,000 schoolchildren and over 4,000 preschool children have been deprived of their right to education for the last two months. We don’t have a final number of those who returned to Artsakh since the peace agreement was signed, but there are thousands who lost their homes and have to stay in Armenia.
Abramian: How much have you fundraised so far?
Papoyan: We’ve set a goal of $10,000 as an initial stage to be able to get equipped enough and cover the logistics to mainly travel to the temporary accommodation sites where the displaced Artsakh population are housed across Armenia. We’re targeting big communities of displaced people to engage as many children as possible. Thus far we have raised about 90 percent of the initial goals but with the growing interest of both potential participants and donors, we’ve raised the goal particularly for the additional Christmas event component we’ve added.
Abramian: What’s the Christmas event that you’re planning?
Papoyan: Because it’s almost the end of the year, we’re planning a special coding Christmas event for the displaced children where they’ll be able to code a virtual Christmas card via block-based programming tools. This will be a fun holiday activity with a goal to empower them into the learning path ahead. It will be a nice opening for the workshop series.
Abramian: Have the tech workshops started yet? If so, how many children are involved?
Papoyan: Not yet. We are now engaged in organizational logistics and plan to start the regular workshops by mid-January of 2021.
Abramian: What type of technology lessons will you be offering?
Papoyan: The teaching plan targets the interests of the children and teenagers–to open up the world of technology and STEM fields for them. The open philosophy is based on our experience of project-based learning within CoderDojo clubs. But in this case, we have a certain goal to spark their interest and also contribute to their career orientation. All workshops are planned to engage the young learners in practical and useful journey of exploring technology with the help of experienced mentors. The workshops will equip the children with vital technical skills they’ll need in life wherever they go and whatever profession they choose. Ideally some of the participants, and particularly the teenage boys and girls, will show specific talent and willingness to get deeper into technology which we’ll definitely spot and put more efforts for their realization.
Abramian: Where will the workshops be held?
Papoyan: In most of the cases the workshop will travel to the communities and get hosted either in a local school classroom or a public building or a hall. But it will be an after-school and often a week-end program so the children can be free from school obligations.
Abramian: Will you be offering any tech workshops in schools in Stepanakert, the war-ravaged capital city of Artsakh where some of the displaced have returned?
Papoyan: We’ll start the workshops in Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan, and the surrounding regions where there are big communities of displaced Artsakh children. Later next year, based on the developments and available funding, we plan to travel to Artsakh as well. On the other hand, we’re now considering the possibility of building an online learning platform with simple and accessible video tutorials for children to start learning remotely as well. That was initiated because of the huge interest and requests we received from a number of Diaspora Armenians who are willing to teach and share their knowledge and experience with the younger generation of Armenians in Armenia. This is the most exciting layer of this project which promises new developments. We keep accepting expressions of interests in teaching.