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Positive News From Armenia: It Is Better To Light a Candle Than to
Curse the Darkness
Friday, January 2nd, 2015
http://asbarez.com/130375/positive-news-from-armenia-it-is-better-to-light-a-candle-than-to-curse-the-darkness/
Karin Donoyan in her office
BY ARMINE KOUNDAKJIAN
There is an abundance of fowl talk and malice about our Homeland
Armenia, which is sometimes justified and sometimes not so. Hereby I
would like to report about a very positive educational and
constructive TV program which you can watch every Sunday afternoon on
Public H-1 channel. This program is called "HAY ASPET" is a general
knowledge competition game between students.
The studio and set of the television program
Since 2006 the Hye Aspet Foundation under the leadership of
journalist, scenarist Mrs. Karin Donoyan established a school with the
same name, and started this educational patriotic and Armenology
oriented pedagogic game. Her ultimate goal is to raise knowledgeable,
well rounded conscious future citizens of Armenia. During my
conversation / interview with her, I reiterated, that being a mere
consumer person is not what our homeland needs. A consumer of goods
can live anywhere, what we need is a concerned citizenry who cares
about Armenia. A citizen who loves his/her country and serves in all
capacity. I am sure that the graduates of the Hye Aspet School that
she has established, will just be that kind of youth.
She wants her students to be armed with worldly knowledge, and have
super awareness, in order to resist and fight the destructive foreign
forces that are deliberately employing anti- Armenian policies. That
is powers who do not have our best interests at heart. Karin Donoyan's
journalistic career includes series of scenarios for TV, fifteenth
anniversary of the Armenian Arm Forces, and Monte Melkonian's 50th.
anniversary celebration. Currently she is working on songs dedicated
to the ancient city of Ani, which will be performed with dances
choreographed by Martin Aharonian.
This game show is filmed at the professionally set up studio located
on the first floor of the Hye Aspet school site, which is a large two
story building on Arshagoonyantz Ave. Every day 35 select,
highly-motivated youngsters attend classes. These children have gone
through vigorous exams prior to admission. On Saturdays, 80 select
students attend the school for the entire day with a one hour
nutritious lunch break. The director-principal Donoyan hopes to expand
the school facilities so she can accept a much larger group of daily
students. These students are being taught by hand picked master
teachers.
Every week 11 students from the Republic's 105 schools come to this
school site to participate in the competition game. Up until today a
total of one million students have participated. Prior to the game she
sends them relevant books to study, along with CD's and DVD's. The
students have 2 months to prepare the materials. Three groups
designated by the Armenian flag colors, red, blue and orange compete
against each other. At the end of school year, the group that has
earned the highest score takes a week long fully paid for trip to
historic Western Armenia.
In addition to the students, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of The
Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh also participate.
Additionally, up to date, 18 military units from Artsakh and 30
military units from the R. of A. have participated. The entire program
costs 20 million Dram which is provided by the RA federal government.
Every week the winning teams receive gifts donated by the Pan Armenian
Congress and other donors.
One of the classrooms
The school's staff is composed of 27 persons, including office
workers, the cook the dietician the librarian, the gardener etc.
Parallel with the Republic's standard curriculum, the school offers
languages i.e. Russian, English and Turkish, epic stories, proverbs,
fairy tales and sayings. The classes end at 5 p.m. All teachers are
certified experts in their fields. There is 70 million Dram provided
by the Department of Education and Ministry of Sciences, The defense
department kicks in another 10-15 million Dram. These funds are also
used to organize camping trips to the various scenic regions of the
Republic such as, Gumri, Lori, Artsakh, Sunik, Tavoosh etc. Every year
on the occasion of the Republic's Independence Day on September 21 St.
the students do mountain climbing to Mt. Aragats, Ajdahak and other
peaks.
"We are raising a group of small brave and promising soldiers. We
rejuvenate our national ethnic holidays and traditional festivals,"
says Karin Donoyan.
The author with Donoyan
Furure Plans: Mrs. Donoyan is planning a Flash Mob with 1800 Hye Aspet
graduates on the occasion of the 100 memorial of the Genocide at the
ancient city of Ani. With the help of RA government, she is planning
to march to various regions of the country with 600-800 Hye Aspet
students. There is another interesting plan brewing in her mind, i.e.
to carry out an international signature drive to
UNESCO protesting about the deliberate distortions and defacing that
is happening in Ani under the pretense of reconstruction of that
city's ancient ruins. The electronic address for the protest letters
is "armcongress.am". Turkish government has brought in Georgian pseudo
experts for the renovation job. It is very obvious that these
"experts" are erasing every trace of its Armenian origin.
After the above interview I sat thru the classes, then I visited the
cafeteria during the lunch hour. The kitchen was clean and fully
equipped. I saw the storage rooms of the gifts and uniforms that are
worn during the game's broadcast. At the end of our talk, Mrs. Donoyan
gave me a very nice gift in the form of a globe in Armenian. This gift
was in appreciation for last year's donation of several dozens of my
educational grammar game called "Armenian Homonyms." This same gift is
presented to an outstanding participant every week.
I left the school site very impressed and happy for having such an
outstanding model institution. Anyone who has watched this TV program
has marveled at the ability of the participants whose ages range from
children as young as 8-9 to high school age. Many times the excellent
quality of their spoken language can put some grown-ups to shame. The
viewers have an opportunity to learn a lot of interesting facts such
as, Armenian and world history , geography, grammar, music, Garegin
Nejdeh's teachings, military laws , science, biography of royal
dynasties, etc.
Let's wish more power to Karin Donoyan, to her dream of having a
larger school and more facilities. In my opinion, the only draw back
is that sometimes the Sunday broadcast time of 1:45 becomes pre empted
by other events. For example last Sunday because of a football game
broadcast, the HYE ASPET started at 7p.m. in the evening.
From: Baghdasarian
Curse the Darkness
Friday, January 2nd, 2015
http://asbarez.com/130375/positive-news-from-armenia-it-is-better-to-light-a-candle-than-to-curse-the-darkness/
Karin Donoyan in her office
BY ARMINE KOUNDAKJIAN
There is an abundance of fowl talk and malice about our Homeland
Armenia, which is sometimes justified and sometimes not so. Hereby I
would like to report about a very positive educational and
constructive TV program which you can watch every Sunday afternoon on
Public H-1 channel. This program is called "HAY ASPET" is a general
knowledge competition game between students.
The studio and set of the television program
Since 2006 the Hye Aspet Foundation under the leadership of
journalist, scenarist Mrs. Karin Donoyan established a school with the
same name, and started this educational patriotic and Armenology
oriented pedagogic game. Her ultimate goal is to raise knowledgeable,
well rounded conscious future citizens of Armenia. During my
conversation / interview with her, I reiterated, that being a mere
consumer person is not what our homeland needs. A consumer of goods
can live anywhere, what we need is a concerned citizenry who cares
about Armenia. A citizen who loves his/her country and serves in all
capacity. I am sure that the graduates of the Hye Aspet School that
she has established, will just be that kind of youth.
She wants her students to be armed with worldly knowledge, and have
super awareness, in order to resist and fight the destructive foreign
forces that are deliberately employing anti- Armenian policies. That
is powers who do not have our best interests at heart. Karin Donoyan's
journalistic career includes series of scenarios for TV, fifteenth
anniversary of the Armenian Arm Forces, and Monte Melkonian's 50th.
anniversary celebration. Currently she is working on songs dedicated
to the ancient city of Ani, which will be performed with dances
choreographed by Martin Aharonian.
This game show is filmed at the professionally set up studio located
on the first floor of the Hye Aspet school site, which is a large two
story building on Arshagoonyantz Ave. Every day 35 select,
highly-motivated youngsters attend classes. These children have gone
through vigorous exams prior to admission. On Saturdays, 80 select
students attend the school for the entire day with a one hour
nutritious lunch break. The director-principal Donoyan hopes to expand
the school facilities so she can accept a much larger group of daily
students. These students are being taught by hand picked master
teachers.
Every week 11 students from the Republic's 105 schools come to this
school site to participate in the competition game. Up until today a
total of one million students have participated. Prior to the game she
sends them relevant books to study, along with CD's and DVD's. The
students have 2 months to prepare the materials. Three groups
designated by the Armenian flag colors, red, blue and orange compete
against each other. At the end of school year, the group that has
earned the highest score takes a week long fully paid for trip to
historic Western Armenia.
In addition to the students, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of The
Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh also participate.
Additionally, up to date, 18 military units from Artsakh and 30
military units from the R. of A. have participated. The entire program
costs 20 million Dram which is provided by the RA federal government.
Every week the winning teams receive gifts donated by the Pan Armenian
Congress and other donors.
One of the classrooms
The school's staff is composed of 27 persons, including office
workers, the cook the dietician the librarian, the gardener etc.
Parallel with the Republic's standard curriculum, the school offers
languages i.e. Russian, English and Turkish, epic stories, proverbs,
fairy tales and sayings. The classes end at 5 p.m. All teachers are
certified experts in their fields. There is 70 million Dram provided
by the Department of Education and Ministry of Sciences, The defense
department kicks in another 10-15 million Dram. These funds are also
used to organize camping trips to the various scenic regions of the
Republic such as, Gumri, Lori, Artsakh, Sunik, Tavoosh etc. Every year
on the occasion of the Republic's Independence Day on September 21 St.
the students do mountain climbing to Mt. Aragats, Ajdahak and other
peaks.
"We are raising a group of small brave and promising soldiers. We
rejuvenate our national ethnic holidays and traditional festivals,"
says Karin Donoyan.
The author with Donoyan
Furure Plans: Mrs. Donoyan is planning a Flash Mob with 1800 Hye Aspet
graduates on the occasion of the 100 memorial of the Genocide at the
ancient city of Ani. With the help of RA government, she is planning
to march to various regions of the country with 600-800 Hye Aspet
students. There is another interesting plan brewing in her mind, i.e.
to carry out an international signature drive to
UNESCO protesting about the deliberate distortions and defacing that
is happening in Ani under the pretense of reconstruction of that
city's ancient ruins. The electronic address for the protest letters
is "armcongress.am". Turkish government has brought in Georgian pseudo
experts for the renovation job. It is very obvious that these
"experts" are erasing every trace of its Armenian origin.
After the above interview I sat thru the classes, then I visited the
cafeteria during the lunch hour. The kitchen was clean and fully
equipped. I saw the storage rooms of the gifts and uniforms that are
worn during the game's broadcast. At the end of our talk, Mrs. Donoyan
gave me a very nice gift in the form of a globe in Armenian. This gift
was in appreciation for last year's donation of several dozens of my
educational grammar game called "Armenian Homonyms." This same gift is
presented to an outstanding participant every week.
I left the school site very impressed and happy for having such an
outstanding model institution. Anyone who has watched this TV program
has marveled at the ability of the participants whose ages range from
children as young as 8-9 to high school age. Many times the excellent
quality of their spoken language can put some grown-ups to shame. The
viewers have an opportunity to learn a lot of interesting facts such
as, Armenian and world history , geography, grammar, music, Garegin
Nejdeh's teachings, military laws , science, biography of royal
dynasties, etc.
Let's wish more power to Karin Donoyan, to her dream of having a
larger school and more facilities. In my opinion, the only draw back
is that sometimes the Sunday broadcast time of 1:45 becomes pre empted
by other events. For example last Sunday because of a football game
broadcast, the HYE ASPET started at 7p.m. in the evening.
From: Baghdasarian