ADB approves $750k grant project to support distance learning in Armenia

The project will support the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) to ensure quality and continuous education during times of emergency and normal situations.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant-financed $750,000 Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance project to help Armenia improve resilience to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and other disasters by developing and operationalizing a distance education platform.

The project will support the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) to ensure quality and continuous education during times of emergency and normal situations. The assistance will improve the regulatory and institutional framework supporting distance learning, as well as the capacity of users through a training of trainers scheme for the effective operation of the distance education platform.

"Providing access to quality and continuous education for all students nationwide is a key goal for the government and supports ADB Strategy 2030's guiding principles of promoting innovative technology and providing integrated solutions," said ADB Country Director for Armenia Paolo Spantigati. "ADB will continue its support to the education sector reforms in the country as one of the strategic directions of its Country Partnership Strategy."

Under the program, a distance education platform will be developed to provide more learning modalities and information in a learner-friendly format. The platform will support kindergarten through grade 12 education institutions to deliver online courses and provide teachers and students with real-time feedback mechanisms, assignment distribution and monitoring, and other student-centric learning tools.

The program will help the government develop policies to provide equal opportunities for all to use the platform, which addresses the needs and diverse physical capabilities of learners, their caregivers, and teachers.

"ADB support to develop the distance education in Armenia is in line with one of the strategic goals of our ministry," said Deputy Minister of MoESCS Artur Martirosyan. "The importance of the project is that it will enable us to move towards using the platform for distance education and will thereby help address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry appreciates productive cooperation with ADB."