Armenian schools to offer career guidance course

YEREVAN, May 23. /ARKA/. All 7th-12th graders in secondary and high schools across Armenia will have compulsory career guidance lessons, Tehmine Karakhanyan, a senior official of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports told a press conference on Monday.

According to her, presently a compulsory career guidance course is being tested in all secondary and high schools in Tavush marz (province), which will become mandatory for all schools of the country in 2023-2024 academic year.

Haykuhi Gevorgyan, the head of the Center for Vocational Guidance and Skills Development, an affiliation of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, noted that a study conducted in Armenia in 2018 among 138 schoolchildren, showed that 80% of respondents consciously chose their profession thanks to a career guidance course, social pedagogues, psychologists and parents.

"The chain impact of that study was that those students who took a career guidance course for at least a year set career goals in their own communities. It's very important to us that the kids imagine their future jobs in their home communities," she said.

She said at least 2 educators, preferably social pedagogues and psychologists, should be teach the courses at each school, but if they are not available, the choice of specialists will be left to school administrators.

She said the course is to run throughout the school year for 1 hour per week. During the course the students will meet with employers, experts, successful community professionals, receive individual counseling, etc. Their parents will also be involved as mentors," she said. -0-