Extensive work undertaken to digitalise education system, says Minister

Armenian Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan attended the annual “ICT in Education” conference organised by the National Centre for Educational Technologies.

The event presented progress and new development opportunities relating to the new education management system and the eTwinning programme, particularly the extensive work undertaken to digitalise education.

Other participants included the ministry’s Deputy Secretary General Vahram Gasparyan; Artak Poghosyan, Director of the National Centre for Educational Technologies; Zhanna Harutyunyan, Director of the National Centre for Education Development and Innovation; Karo Nasibyan, Deputy Director of the Assessment and Testing Centre; Arsen Baghdasaryan, Deputy Head of the Education Inspectorate; heads of the ministry’s specialist and support units; and representatives of other institutions within the education system.

According to the ministry, Andreasyan said extensive work had been undertaken to digitalise the education system and was continuing, with the aim of improving efficiency and ensuring effective mechanisms for interoperability between different systems.

The minister addressed the Government’s comprehensive approach to information security and digitalisation standards, stressing that the reforms required corresponding changes across all information systems and databases.

She said difficulties arising during the initial stage were to be expected: as digitalisation expanded, cybersecurity became increasingly critical and the risk of vulnerabilities in systems grew. In this context, Andreasyan particularly emphasised the importance of protecting the education management information system’s extensive database and ensuring its interoperability with other state systems, noting that setting professional standards and ensuring security were priorities.

Addressing the need for greater responsibility in the digital environment and the extensive changes ahead, the minister said:

“We must strengthen the understanding that information platforms contain official documentation and that the data entered form the basis for crucial decisions, including funding decisions through which schools receive allocations from the state budget. Inadequate administration creates an additional burden for the entire system. From January, responsibility for managing and financing schools in the regions will come under the ministry, and ensuring the proper quality of digital tools and administration is essential to organising work on this scale effectively.”

The minister said the heads of educational institutions also had substantial work to do to ensure the education management information system operated effectively. They must take considerable responsibility for the accuracy of the data entered.

Discussing the information system’s role, Andreasyan stressed that the platform was one of the education sector’s most important tools and would continue to develop. She expressed hope that participants, as users with a direct interest in the platform, would not only learn from the discussions but also actively share their observations and opinions. This would help further improve the system, make it more useful for everyone and clarify the direction of its future development.

Concluding her remarks, Andreasyan praised the efforts of education professionals and said she expected their active participation in discussions on further improving and developing the platform. She thanked those responsible and the specialist team for their efforts, the work already completed and the work planned.

Artak Poghosyan, Director of the National Centre for Educational Technologies, presented the new myemis education management system. He said the unified platform incorporated numerous functional subsystems, ranging from electronic school diaries to platforms for first- and tenth-grade admissions, applications for voluntary teacher certification, college admissions applications and other services.

Access to the system is differentiated by user group. Teachers, school heads, members of the public and ministry representatives have separate capabilities corresponding to their roles. Ministry staff can also obtain and use comprehensive analytical data.

Poghosyan also presented the platform’s education statistics and analysis section, which provides data showing changes in schools over the years, alongside frequently used reports that can also be generated according to users’ selections.

In addition to schools, the education management system covers colleges, preschool institutions and universities.

Other work to digitalise the education system was also discussed during the meeting.