A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during which the implementation of the State Program and Action Plan for the Development of Education in the Republic of Armenia until 2030 was discussed.

Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan first presented the three main priorities towards which the work was carried out. Accordingly, these priorities are: access to education, with an emphasis on the development of infrastructure and improvement of content, increasing the efficiency of education, and the internationalization of educational services and products. According to the Minister, according to numerical data, this involves 101 measures.

It was reported that within the framework of access to preschool education, the number of settlements without preschool services has been reduced from 229 to 162, within the framework of ensuring access to nurseries, a pilot program is planned to organize preschool education for 195 children aged 0-2 in 10 institutions (Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Hrazdan cities) in 2025-2026, the enrollment of children aged 3-5 in preschool institutions has improved, reaching 75%. The Minister reported that within the framework of the 500 kindergarten program, 195 are completed, 136 are in progress, and 64 are in the preparatory stage. It was noted that with the support of the state, preschool education for children of certain social groups has also been provided.

Regarding the work carried out on access to general education, Zhanna Andreasyan noted that an important target was to ensure access to proper furnishings and a modern environment, which was implemented using the tools of the 300 Schools program. Accordingly, 44 schools (for about 15,000 students) and 19 gyms (for about 6,500 students) were put into operation within the framework of the 300 Schools program, work is underway on 31 schools, and work has started on 150. 44 schools and 29 gyms have been provided with property. As part of the process of creating natural science and information technology laboratories, 648 schools already had furnished laboratories as of the end of last year. The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport emphasized that as a result of legislative changes, as well as thanks to the information system launched last year, the number of children excluded from the compulsory education system has been significantly reduced.

Regarding access to higher education, it was emphasized that as a result of the program to encourage students with professional pedagogy programs in natural sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, 304 students were admitted to universities in the 2024/2025 academic year, 21% more than those admitted in the previous academic year. Over the 2-year period, 621 students are beneficiaries of the program: 160 at the bachelor's level and 461 at the master's level, 76 of whom are studying with honors, receiving a scholarship of 77,000 AMD.

Referring to the qualitative indicators, Zhanna Andreasyan noted that the main targets in the field of preschool education are the introduction of a new standard, which is already in effect in 75 percent of educational institutions, about 60 percent of employees have already been trained, a network of mentor kindergartens has been formed, various workshops are being held, a grading mechanism has been introduced with the possibility of a surcharge. According to the minister, qualitative changes in education are also visible in international assessment tests, in particular, the TIMSS international survey. According to the results of the international mathematics assessment, Armenian schoolchildren are showing continuous growth, registering indicators above average (over 500 points).

Presenting the next most important target, which is to make the activity of a teacher properly paid and enjoying high public status, it was noted that in 2022-2024 about 60 percent of pedagogical workers participated in mandatory training courses, 20 percent of teachers are already beneficiaries of the voluntary certification system, other programs are also in operation. Accordingly, as a result of the work aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the teacher's profession, the number of new teachers entering school is 3,300, 56 percent of which in rural schools.

The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport also reported on the "Academic City" program, presented details on the work carried out, in particular, on urban strategic planning, the final development of the master plan by Gmp company, the development of a network database, etc.

Reference was also made to the work carried out to develop the capacities of Armenian educational institutions in the Diaspora, to develop and provide educational packages in accordance with the educational needs of the Diaspora. In particular, work was carried out to train Diaspora Armenian teachers, provide textbooks and teaching materials, enrich the electronic database of educational materials of Diaspora schools, and other works.

It was reported that within the framework of the work carried out towards the internationalization of education, an electronic platform for accepting and registration of documents of foreign citizens at Armenian universities has been created, the procedures for the admission of foreign citizens to Armenian universities and the academic mobility of students have been amended.

The participants of the consultation exchanged views on the work carried out, the reforms implemented in the education sector, and the peculiarities of the educational process were discussed.

Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized the importance of addressing conceptual issues on a daily basis and checking the effectiveness of the work carried out through feedback. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the importance of the measures taken and gave relevant instructions regarding the solution of a number of issues raised.