On May 13, Lilit Mkrtchyan, Acting Rector of the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU), received a delegation from Uruguay consisting of Elbia Pereira, a representative of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) of the Republic of Uruguay, Victoria Faroppa, Director of the Dirección de Relaciones Internacionales y Cooperación (DRIC) of ANEP, and Javier Poladian, Director of Educational Affairs at Armenian General Benevolent Union AGBU) in Uruguay. The meeting was also attended by Angelina Hovhannisyan, Head of the Division for International Cooperation and Diaspora Relations at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) of the Republic of Armenia, and Siranush Titizyan, Assistant to the Ambassador of Uruguay. The parties discussed issues of mutual interest.

Lilit Mkrtchyan introduced the guests to the direction, educational traditions, and priorities of the University that has a history of 100 years.

The guests spoke about the characteristics of teacher education in their country, emphasizing that Uruguay is now planning to incorporate teacher education solely into higher education (HE) programs. Until now, teacher education has been regarded as a discipline taught within the secondary vocational education system. In that context, the guests stressed that possible cooperation with ASPU will be highly beneficial. At the same time, they added that Uruguay has a stable, institutionally established system for teacher training, and in that sense, they can be helpful to ASPU’s center responsible for teacher training and professional development through an exchange of experience.

The guests were delighted to know that Armenia and Uruguay share the same approach to inclusive education. The only difference is that Uruguay reaffirmed its commitment to universal inclusion last year, while Armenia already has significant achievements in the field, which ASPU is ready to share with its Uruguayan partners.

The guests gave Lilit Mkrtchyan a handbook authored by children in their country, and notably, not only Armenian children. Together with their teachers, they had compiled a collection of essays about the Armenian Genocide.

Professor Javier Poladian, Director of Educational Affairs at AGBU Uruguay, emphasized that by discussing and researching various genocides they are contributing to the protection of human rights and the strengthening of democracy.

The parties also discussed the possible framework for cooperation. Angelina Hovhannisyan, Head of the Division for International Cooperation and Diaspora Relations at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, proposed establishing an expert working group to implement the agreements already reached and to take the cooperation into a practical phase.