ArmInfo. Telecom Armenia (TM Beeline) together with the Armenian office of the British Council and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports have summed up the results of the pilot project "Coding Skills: Linking the Present and the Future".
Within the framework of the project, extracurricular coding courses were taught to students of three schools in Yerevan. According to the company's official statement, the implementation of the program was aimed at developing basic coding skills, as well as other key digital skills in schoolchildren, including critical analytical thinking, creativity and teamwork.
The courses were delivered using Micro: bit micro-equipment provided to students during pandemic to work from home and under the guidance of computer science teachers to develop projects. According to the source, the results of the program were summed up through a competition between the capital's schools No. 16, 170 and 97, which are the beneficiaries of this project. In an online competition, each team using Micro: bit devices submitted projects related to epidemiological regulations, including solutions for social distancing, hand sanitizing and warning signals to avoid the virus via microbit devices.
The jury included Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia Zhanna Andreasyan, Telecom Armenia Brand Development and Communications Director Ashot Barseghyan and Head of Educational Programs of the British Council Addeh Hovassapian. According to the source, the winner was the project presented by the school ь16 named after Avetik Isahakyan. "It is very important for our team to realize that as a company we support high-quality education of young people, and today, seeing the wonderful projects of so many talented young people, we are once again convinced of the importance of their implementation," said Ashot Barseghyan. It is reported that before the launch of the program, teachers of English and ICT of the beneficiary schools underwent retraining in the use of the Micro: bit toolkit. Schools were provided with about 70 units of Micro: bit equipment and related educational resources. About 100 students were involved in the "Coding Skills" program.
