Deputy Minister to Diaspora Teachers: "You're Lucky to be Visiting a New Armenia"
Welcoming some sixty Armenian school teachers hailing from sixteen countries to Armenia for retraining, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Hovhannes Hovhannisyan delved into a bit of political posturing when he told the educators that they would be seeing a “new Armenia” where the role of the teacher would be experience a reawakening.
“I was recently in Lebanon and saw the great enthusiasm in the diaspora towards the new Armenia. You are part of that select few who are lucky enough to now visit Armenia, with its new reality. You will see that new reality, something not seen by past program participants,” the deputy minister said.
Hovhannisyan told the teachers, mostly Armenian language and literature instructors, that the primary issue in the diaspora is the preservation of Armenia identity, and that the risk of assimilation is particularly strong in “Christian nations” like Russia, the U.S., and Europe.
“Undoubtedly, the diaspora holds the greatest potential strength for Armenia, while at the same time, it’s clear that the diaspora cannot exist without Armenia,” Hovhannisyan said during his welcoming remarks.
Also in attendance were Archbishop Natan Hovhannisyan, Armenian State Pedagogical University Chancellor Ruben Mirzakhanyan, and National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of History Director Ashot Melkonyan.
The program, financed by the Armenian government, ends on July 27.
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