During the working meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, the Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan reported on February 28 about the progress in the implementation of the President's instructions, the work to provide quality education in the general education and higher education spheres, the implementation of innovative programs, priority tasks for this purpose and plans for 2018. Details are presented by the press office of the head of the Armenian state. 

Minister Mkrtchyan reported that in 2017 the draft law of the Republic of Armenia "On approval of the state program for the development of education for the period until 2030" was developed and approved by the government.

Addressing the implementation of innovative educational programs, including the Ararat Baccalaureate program, in parallel with the centers of excellence, Levon Mkrtchyan said that he has already received international recognition. According to the minister, the report of the British National Agency for Academic Recognition approved the Ararat Baccalaureate as equivalent to the best international school curricula and incorporated it into a unified system of admission to universities in the United Kingdom. 

Minister Mkrtchyan reported that, on behalf of the president, the system of centers of excellence is also being introduced in the country's senior schools. At the same time, an evaluation component was developed that is part of the Teacher program, the goal of which is the replenishment of schools with highly qualified personnel.

Levon Mkrtchyan also presented the work aimed at increasing the efficiency of teaching foreign languages ​​in order to improve the quality of education. According to the minister, work is continuing on the construction of a school with in-depth study of the Chinese language, due to investments of the Chinese side in the amount of about 11 million US dollars, it is planned to put the school into operation within the scheduled time: September 1, 2018. 

In the reporting year, as the minister pointed out, the concept of teaching the Russian language in general schools has been worked out, together with the federal agency Rossotrudnichestvo, courses are being held for the retraining of teachers of the Russian language, as well as programs to improve the efficiency of teaching the Russian language in schools.

With the assistance of Great Britain, in 6 communities of Armenia, English language clubs have been established, in which 200 teachers have already retrained. In 10 schools of the country an in-depth study of the French language is conducted. In addition, the minister said, since 2018. the certificate on secondary school education of RA will become the basis for continuing education in German universities. 

The Minister also reported on the progress of social assistance programs, including in schools of border communities. The state compensated the cost of studying at universities for 1,046 students from border communities (about 154 million drams), as well as for 2,667 students from socially unsecured families (about 655 million drams). 

As part of the expansion of the program "Stable school meals" in 2017. Tavush region joined the project, and in 2018, The implementation of this program is also expected in the Shirak region. Currently, about 90,000 primary school pupils receive free meals in schools at the expense of the state budget and relevant UN programs. 

The Minister also reported that the Syunik, Lori and Tavush regions have moved to the system of general educational inclusive education, and this year it is expected to be included in the program of the Armavir region.

Levon Mkrtchyan also reported on the work carried out within the framework of the instruction of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in the direction of solving the problem of entering the labor market. In this context, the Minister noted that in some 25 institutions of primary and secondary vocational education some 40 professions, most in demand on the labor market and contributing to the socio-economic development of the RA regions, were introduced, as well as in areas of importance. In addition, the German education system will also use the FRG experience in this field in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation.

The Minister reported that the professional group on reforming the system of higher education, formed on behalf of the Armenian president, has completed the development of the draft law "On Higher Education". It is noted that the draft law is currently in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. 

Among the events held in 2018, Levon Mkrtchyan noted the work on the revision of the mechanism for financing HEIs and the principles of granting student scholarships and benefits, the formation of clusters "higher educational institution - research institute - employer" and network universities in the field of natural and technical sciences, increasing accountability and classification universities, as well as a number of other planned activities.