On May 19, another #LivetTalks_4 project took place in the “Article 3” club titled “The mechanisms, tools and liberation of education”. The speakers of the meeting were Olya Azatyan – lecturer at the Yerevan State Brusov University of Languages and Social Sciences, Ani Kojoyan – lecturer at the Yerevan State University, “Education” program coordinator at the Open Society Foundations,Davit Petrosyan – member of the “YSU restart” initiative, activist, Anna Khachian – vice president of the ACoYA, analyst, Areg Kochinyan – president of the ACoYA, analyst.
At the beginning of the meeting the vice president of the ACoYA Anna Khachian welcomed the audience and presented the agenda of the meeting.
One of the speakers, Olya Azatyan, presented her vision on the liberation of education. According to her, the liberation of education is a process, at the end of which the student must be able to self-assess, have a critical thinking and be self-governed.
YSU lecturer, “Education” program coordinator of the OSF Ani Kojoyan mentioned that before the Velvet Revolution the ruling party in Armenia made education a political tool and there was no point in the law “On the Higher Education” regarding the development of critical thinking. The speaker also emphasized the necessity of the practical use of the students’ and professors’ rights.
Member of the “YSU Restart” Initiative David Petrosyan briefly presented the current and already existing activities of the initiative, as well as the involvement of the students during the revolution in Armenia.
The views of the president of the ACoYA Areg Kochinyan, on education were already in the political context. He mentioned that the representatives of civil society, who are mainly young people and students, contributed to the revolution rather than the young. The speaker also mentioned that new employees, as well as new methodologies are tools for educational reforms.
Education, as mentioned by the Vice President of the ACoYA Anna Khachyan, is itself a liberation process, and it is necessary to have alternative forms as well as provide appropriate methodology to achieve tangible results.
At the end of the meeting the audience asked questions they were curious about to the speakers in the form of question-and-answer session.