The current introduction and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the secondary education system of Armenia has two features - the lack of coordination of the process and the simplified and superficial perception of the problem. The process of starting computer classes in schools, providing them with Internet access, and other auxiliary work has remained uncoordinated for several years now. All the talk about the need to coordinate the process has yielded no results, for obvious reasons. In the absence of a general strategy or coordinated approach, some international and foreign organizations have implemented a number of projects fully or partly devoted to the informatization of the school system in Armenia.

The second feature can in part be considered a consequence of the first. The complicated, contradictory, and ambiguous issue of schools and ICTs is not well understood in Armenia . Many things are presented simplistically; many others are simply ignored.

Only the government can become the initiator - acceptable to all participants - of a coordinated approach, and the flaws in this process are the government's responsibility. Now for the first time, the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) is claiming an active role. How grounded their claim is, is a separate issue. However, it is not yet a question of uniting and coordinating all efforts. No doubt, that the ministry's independence and capacity for initiative will be strictly limited since on the one hand the World Bank projects have strict conditions and recommendations, and on the other hand, developing and employing local approaches and principles require serious, long term efforts for which no necessary prerequisite exists.

Also worth mentioning is the insufficiency, if not absence, of interested participation by the society (by NGOs, in particular). Though it is of fundamental importance, the issue of employing ICTs in the field of education has not become a subject of public discourse, since, in fact, except for the most general self-interested or rejectionist interpretations, it is unknown and unclear even to intellectuals. Instead, donating a number of computers to a particular school as charity or as part of election campaign for the parliament has become fashionable.

Project Harmony in Armenia

Projects introducing modern ICTs to schools in Armenia in recent years have mainly been related to the work of the American organization Project Harmony. Project Harmony was first established in Armenia in 2000 and has been implementing the Armenia School Connectivity Program (providing schools with computer classes and access to the Internet), thus building upon the work initiated by the US Embassy in Yerevan and by ACCELS.

Aimed at creating and maintaining a network of more than 300 schools, the organization at the same time provides free training for all students and teachers at the host school and neighboring schools as well, and organizes seminars, conferences, and training for school representatives and community members. In general, the objectives of Project Hope are much wider - special needs students, refugees, women's issues, and youth leadership, the creation of online resources such as online newsletters, discussion lists, interactive websites, web chats and teleconferences, and the promotion of the Internet as a democracy-building and community organizing tool. Also worth mentioning is the creation of Armenian-language resources, such as websites linked to the Republic of Armenia civics curriculum, and textbooks and manuals.

The usefulness and scope of the work of this organization are apparent, but at the same time this work raises some questions. First of all, it seems obvious that, for example, creating educational and methodical manuals for the secondary education system is not something that a foreign organization should do, even if local teachers participate in the work. (Even the inability of official organs to do such work cannot justify such interference.) Furthermore, it is hard to understand just what such an approach - the objective of which is more to initiate some changes of a general nature within the society - gives to a country like Armenia and to secondary education, in particular. Clearly, other cultural values and societal ideals lie behind these initiatives, which might be unacceptable, incomprehensible, or at least unattainable for an Armenian citizen. (Let's put aside for the time being the strictly political and also commercial goals of the initiative). It is unclear, for example, how effective, in Armenia 's present situation, the linking of the educational process to community problems will be, and whether these approaches could become exemplary, in the sense of being adopted or continued.

To be continued.