The Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF) is helping shape Armenia’s future by supporting students studying in technical fields.

AEF’s newest educational program in the burgeoning Information Technology field is its Armath Engineering Laboratories located in village schools in cooperation with Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE). With the help and generosity of AEF members and donors, Armath Laboratories started working in four village schools, Hadrut, Qajaran #1, Choratan, and Dilijan #4 in January 2019. These new labs were in addition to previously funded Armath Labs in Darbas and Stepanakert #4 schools. Three more labs are planned for 2019, including one in Lorut village school, which will bring the total number of schools which have Armath labs funded by AEF to nine. To date, AEF has committed over $77,000 to fund these nine Armath laboratories.

In addition to sponsoring Armath Labs, AEF has sponsored numerous programs related to the IT/Engineering fields. The AEF established Computer Information Science degree program at Artsakh State University; provides full tuition scholarships to university students studying in technical and engineering fields; and provides computers & printers to village schools and training for their teachers.

In Armath labs students are introduced and learn basic programming, animation, microcontroller programming and robotics, 3D modeling and working with UAV and control Systems. The students participate in different technology camps and have the opportunity to compete on a national level and participate in the DigiTec Expo, the largest tech expo in the region. The goal is to motivate students to pursue engineering and IT degrees and ultimately fill over 2000 job vacancies in the sector in Armenia. In addition to technical training students also learn how to collaborate and work in teams for technical camps and competitions. Additionally, during these competitions they get to meet and communicate with leading IT professionals and get guidance and advice from them.

Al Cabraloff, AEF Board member and Computer Committee member stated: “AEF’s computer in village school program and now sponsoring Armath Labs opens the world to the children living in remote villages. There might be the next Bill Gates sitting in that village classroom.”

http://asbarez.com/177571/aef-opens-4-engineering-labs-in-armenia-and-artsakh/