YEREVAN—Teach For Armenia recruits and trains young professionals with a record of achievement to expand educational opportunities for all children by teaching for two years in schools. By streamlining the best and brightest of Armenia and her diaspora into the teaching profession, Teach For Armenia, a Yerevan-based non-profit organization seeks to give all children in Armenia the opportunity to unlock their full potential. Teach For Armenia envisions a process that will unite the aspirations and abilities of young Armenian leaders with the budding capabilities and dreams of the future generation of Armenian children who have yet to unlock their full potential. This connection, between the educators and the students forms an essential counterpart to the future wellbeing and prosperity of our country.
Teach For Armenia recruits and trains young Armenian leaders to teach as “Fellows” in schools across Armenia’s regions. Fellows will be recruited according to a strong track record of leadership that is crucial when setting each individual child and classroom on a transformational path towards educational excellence. “I keep coming back to the great Ken Robinson’s quote – “There is no system in the world or any school in the country that is better than its teachers. Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools.” This is exactly what motivates and energizes Teach For Armenia. Today, more than ever before, we need to ensure that all of our children are getting the teacher they deserve, the teacher that will make every child feel loved, the teacher that will work relentlessly despite Armenia’s current odds and barriers. We can only really consider excellent education for all children, anything less than this is unacceptable. It’s an ambitious and arduous vision, but it’s the only vision that makes sense,” says CEO and founder Larisa Ryan. The organization endeavors to energize and motivate Armenia’s students, its teachers, and its civil society as a whole.
In order to ensure that educational outcomes for all children are effectively improved and developed, and in order to successfully narrow and bridge a knowledge gap that is exasperated by the fact that many rural schools in Armenia shut down during the winter – leaving children with limited educational opportunities – Teach For Armenia will be launching its inaugural Summer Institute, an intensive 6-week training program for Teach For Armenia Fellows, and a fun, free-of-charge high-level learning program for 200 Armenian children from rural communities. The objective of the Institute is to effectively train our 20 Fellows for their two-year teaching commitment, and to invigorate students from rural communities to benefit from such educational advantages. Consisting of clearly formulated and foundational as well as invigorating summer school courses, the Institute forms the key platform and framework on which this substantive knowledge bridge will be built. With this in mind, the Institute will empower young students, enabling them to compensate for their academic shortcomings from the prior academic year, and to expedite their learning by providing them with an opportunity to hone their knowledge for the upcoming one in an agreeable and rewarding environment.
To this end, Teach For Armenia has launched its first-ever crowdfunding campaign on GlobalGiving in an effort to strengthen Armenia’s youth by improving educational opportunities for all children. By supporting Teach For Armenia through a donation you will not only impact classrooms and schools today, but will also help to build the foundations for self-motivated learners and education leaders in the future. “We believe that the knowledge that children will gain during Institute will make them more driven and committed students for the upcoming school year, and beyond, as they become members of an effective, productive community,” says Ryan.