EREVAN, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS. 80 thousand pieces of literature were provided to Armenian schools in the Diaspora in 2016, Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan told ARMENPRESS.

According to him, the Ministry is focused on both Sunday and day schools, as well as organizations which carry out cultural song and dance education.

“Today we can say that we have met the demand of the majority of schools. 217 schools are still waiting for books. We have delivered literature to those schools, but due to some post problems the delivery was a little late. Educational institutions were provided textbooks, guidebooks and manuals. We have sent Western-Armenian textbooks to educational institutions which teach in Western-Armenian. In addition, we are enriching the libraries of the Diaspora with samples of Armenian classics, and Armenian-translated European literature”, Srapionyan said.

In his words, there are some disagreements regarding the contents of the textbooks. According to him, this is understandable, since classical Diaspora schools have used other textbooks without having a coordinated state system of textbooks.

“There were differences in teaching approaches from school to school. Currently we intend to launch discussions regarding the issue of having textbooks which will be acceptable by everyone in the Diaspora. We already have numerous opinions, we cooperate with the National Institute of Educations, and the final variants will undergo expertise and in case of adoption, education in the Diaspora will be carried out with common textbooks”, he said.

Approximately 2 thousand Sunday schools and more than 100 elementary schools operate in the Diaspora.