'One Child – One Computer' program to be launched in Armenia in September

YEREVAN, April 9. /ARKA/. Armenia's government upheld 'One Child – One Computer' program on Thursday at its regular session. 

Under this program, first-year school children will be provided with ArmTab computers for free.  

Kariune Harutyunyan, deputy education and science minister, said the program will be implemented step by step with the first pilot stage in Vayots Dzor province. 

«It is planned that in the first four years tablets will be provided to first-year school children in Vayots Dzor and after completion of the pilot period and gauging its effect the program will be launched also in other provinces and Yerevan,» she said. 

In her words, the aim of the program is solely educational.  The program is aimed at enhancing quality, availability and actuality of general education by using advanced information technologies.  

Armenian Prime Minster Hovik Abrahamyan said the program should be implemented transparently to arouse no questions and to give no grounds for rumors. 

The pilot stage implementation is paid from the fund of manuals and information and communication technologies.

The program is planned to be implemented in three stages. The first stage will be implemented in one of the country's provinces and will last four years. At the second stage, in 2019, the program will embrace two other provinces every year and at the third stage, before 2025, the program will reach Yerevan.    

It is also planned to provide schools with Internet access and, if necessary, with Wi-Fi. 

There are 1,420 education establishments in Armenia now.  

The government said in its draft decision that AMD 471.72 million is estimated to be needed in 2015-2018 for implementing this program.

The spending includes the purchase of 650 ArmTab tablets for 112,000 drams each, the retraining of teachers, Internet access and software packages.  

Technology and Science Dynamics Inc., Armenian company producing ArmTab tablets and ArmPhone smartphones, was established in October 2013. 

The company has already assembled its first Android-based pilot tablets called ArmTab and the first Armenian smartphone Artmphone.  

Design and software is made in Armenia, and assembly operation in the United States and Hong Kong. 

The first Armenian operational system Araks and workspace Vostan developed by Instigate company will be installed in the tablets. ($1 – AMD 474.99). --0--