YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The bordering Choratan village of Tavush province, despite being in Azerbaijani crosshairs from time to time, is living a lively social-cultural life. The “Mkhitar” youth center, which operates since 2001 with the assistance of “Armenia’s Mkhitaryan Center”, has an important contribution here.

Edgar Kalantaryan, director of the “Mkhitar” youth center, told ARMENPRESS the remote bordering community of Choratan is cut from cultural development, and in order to fill the gap, the Mkhitar youth center was established, which became a structure organizing cultural-educational and everyday activities for the children of the community, as well as solving social problems.

The Council of the village and the village head donated the abandoned Cinema building of the village to the “Armenia’s Mkhitaryan Center” for cultural activities. For more than 15 years the center operated exclusively free of charge for the children.

The main goal is developing the educational, cultural and professional capabilities of children in Armenia, contributing to creation of jobs, reducing migration and conveying new skills to the younger generation.

“There are 107 school-aged children in Choratan village, the large part of whom attend our center. Children aged 7-17 are taught various handicraft and professional skills daily, tapestry, embroidery, healthy lifestyle, chess, music, dance, painting and poetry. It has been already 4 years since I am heading the center, during this period rather new possibilities were created for the children. The classes also have a guiding significance in choosing a profession in the future”, Kalantaryan said.

These days, the Megerian Carpet company organizes classes for one of the teenagers of the community, who will return and work  in the to-be-created carpet making group of the center after completion. Another student has enrolled in the YSU, another in the Arts Academy and so on.

Edgar Kalantaryan said the purpose is to boost the educational and cultural life of the community, as well as solve the social issues. He said they plan to expand the activities of the center, add new classes with an emphasis on foreign languages, internet accessibility, etc.

“Since the day of foundation, the “Armenia’s Mkhitaryan Center” provides all monthly expenditures for the center, however today we plan to create a network with former students of the Congregation, which will contribute to expanding our further activities, including new fields and communities”, Kalantaryan said.

“I would like to emphasize the names of a few of them, for instance Ari Hovsepyan from Los Angeles, Hrach Gaspar from Montreal, Alfred Boghosian from Toronto and others, with whom we maintain contact as a circle of cooperation between us and the former students”, he added.