Spouse of the President Nouneh Sarkissian had a video conversation with the teachers of the Armenian national college in Kuwait: this beautiful language, Western Armenian, must not be lost

The spouse of the President of Armenia Mrs. Nouneh Sarkissian had a video conversation with the management and tutors of the Armenian national college in Kuwait.

At the beginning of this year, Mrs. Sarkissian in the framework of her visit to Kuwait was hosted at the college which was founded in 1960 and has made a great contribution in raising generations of Diaspora Armenians and preparing them for entering universities. This establishment is the only Armenian daily school in the countries of Persian Gulf and Arab countries.

The spouse of the President of Armenia conveyed her greetings to the tutors and recalled her very nice memories of visiting the college. She stressed that the teaching staff’s dedication to their job is commendable.

During the online meeting, which was organized at the initiative of the editorial staff of “Haykashkharh” site, Mrs. N. Sarkissian conversed with the teachers about the merits and shortcomings of distant learning, preservation and enforcement of Western Armenian outside Armenia, as well as keeping children active in the isolation period.

Speaking of advantages and disadvantages of distant learning, Mrs. Sarkissian noted, “Advantages are the following: parents are not forced to take children on cars to school and back in hot weather. It means fewer cars on the streets which is good for nature. Second, it is more practical: the teacher is passing on information to students in a more organized way, may sit down at home at the desk, just I do now, and read the lecture. The negative part of it is that the students are not able to communicate socially, there are no conversations between the students, no relations, and individuals are separated. Schools and colleges should prevent it.” In her words, distant learning can continue but along with it, it is necessary to provide for the kids social interaction in the form of sporting events, concerts, ballgames in the yard, or a marathon.

Mrs. Sarkissian suggested also using of new technologies and opportunities to maintain the contact between the students of the college and their peers in Armenia, giving them a chance to get new friends in the Fatherland during the quarantine.

The teachers of the college spoke also of the shortage of didactic materials for teaching in Western Armenian. In response to their comments, Mrs. Sarkissian noted that preservation and enforcement of Western Armenian outside Armenia is very important. “We must ensure this beautiful language preserves its potency which means books should be published, competitions should be held, recital events, too,” Mrs. Sarkissian said. In this context, she offered the founder of Haykashkharh” site, editor Nayiri Mkrtichean to cooperate in organizing a presidential contest for poetry written in Western Armenian for three groups of students – elementary, secondary, and high school. The results to be known on September 21 – Armenia’s Independence Day, and the winners will receive awards.

Concluding the conversation, Mrs. Sarkissian urged not to despair, “Be stout, be strong, keep and love your families, it is very important.”