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Today, the ceremony of signing a memorandum on the introduction of the "Involved Citizen" training course took place within the framework of the program "Strengthening Political Accountability in Electoral Processes" in Armenia.
In the current year, this course, which was launched in five universities of Armenia in 2021, will be introduced in six more universities, including the Armenian State Pedagogical University.
Among those attending at the signing ceremony of the memorandum were the IFES Country Director of Armenia Jerome Leyraud, the RA Deputy Minister of ESCS Artur Martirosyan, the USAID Acting Strategy and Programme Support Officer Julie Pekowski, the ASPU Vice-Rector for Personnel Matters and International Cooperation Marianna Harutyunyan, Secretary of the Central Elections Committee, various representatives of education sector, and other guests.
The course objective is to promote the understanding of the concepts of active citizenship, democratic governance, and human rights in Armenia, using modern interactive teaching methods.
Within the framework of the “Involved Citizen” course the students will receive such knowledge and skills which are well required for effective involvement, as well as for strengthening democratic principles.
“There is no democracy without civil society and involved citizens. This 12-week course aims at introducing the basics of democracy for future generations of Armenia”, mentioned the IFES Country Director of Armenia Jerome Leyraud during the meeting and once again highlighted the importance of introduction of this programme in education, specifically at universities.
By outlining the role of civil education in our country, which had adopted the democratic development path, the RA Deputy Minister of ESCS Artur Martirosyan observed that the concept was also at the heart of education system regardless of the form of education.
“Development of civil democratic capacities lies at the core of both formal and informal education; learners as rational citizens should know their rights and responsibilities and apply that knowledge in the interest of the country”.
In addition, the Deputy Minister assured that this was not just a regular initiative, but a significant and serious programme confirming the fact of learner-centered education by its interactivity.
Furthermore, the speakers highly emphasized the importance of involvement of the youth in global democratic processes, noting that the interactive course with its methodology would be a significant contribution for future.
Last but not least, we would like to mention that this course will be available to all students regardless of their specialization, and the developed manuals will be adapted to the educational environment of Armenia. The project will continue till 2025.
