Teach For Armenia: Right for Education

Teach For All is a global network of social entrepreneurs who are committed to improving the quality of education in their countries. The network includes 36 countries and most recently Armenia has became an official partner of the network. Teach For Armenia is recruiting exceptional individuals with a record of achievement to commit to teach in Armenian public schools where the need of teachers is the highest. The CEO and founder of Teach For Armenia, Larisa Ryan launched her career in education by teaching through the Teach For program in the United States (Teach For America)

Larisa Ryan believes that today the teaching profession in Armenia, as well as in most countries of the world, unfortunately, is not prestigious and is not well paid. "We all know that teachers and doctors are the most important professions, - says Larisa - but today Armenia needs teachers the most. Teachers carry the most important role, as they are responsible for preparing those very same future doctors and future teachers – they are the ones who are shaping the future of our country". In Armenia, as in many countries in the world, lack of teachers, and the attitude of young professionals to the teaching profession leave much to be desired. Teach For Armenia intends to change this attitude and to attract talented young professionals to the teaching profession.   

Over the past two years Teach For Armenia has conducted extensive research and has identified schools , which, starting September 2015, will welcome young and talented professionals who will fill this educational need through teaching. In many boarder villages and regional towns the same problem exists: many teachers simply don’t want to work in rural schools, making it difficult for school principals to attract teachers. Teach For Armenia Fellow Mariam Davtyan says, that it is not important to her where exactly she is going to be placed to teach: "The idea itself is right and necessary for both teachers and children. I’ve worked for several years in charitable funds and came to the conclusion that the root of challenges come from the school. I became interested in this issue, and thus came across Teach For Armenia".

Candidates, who wish to participate in the program, go through a rigorous selection process. Those who meet the criteria pass to the second stage of preparation: in UWC Dilijan International School the selected candidates will participate in trainings and practical lessons. Experts of Teach For All from various countries are also involved in the process of teachers’ selection. They assess the qualifications of applicants, as well as certain qualities necessary for teaching. Each Teach For Armenia Fellow commits to teach for a minimum period of 2 years at the placement school. Support for housing and other living necessities are provided by the organization.

Among the supporters of Teach For Armenia are the Ministry of Education of Armenia, as well as various foundations and companies, including AGBU, Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, VivaCell-MTS, Rosgosstrakh, etc.

To learn more about the project, please visit the official website: teachforarmenia.org