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Groundbreaking: New school in Dilijan to provide unique learning experience in Armenia and region
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
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An international boarding school for 13-18 year-olds, the first of its kind in the region, will open in 2013, in the lap of the beautiful nature of Dilijan, a resort town in northern Armenia about 60 miles (about 100 km) away from capital Yerevan. The founders of the school say by its level and quality the school will not yield to similar international schools abroad.
The establishment of the Dilijan International School of Armenia (http://www.dilijanschool.org) meant for about 600 pupils was initiated by Moscow-based businessman Ruben Vardanyan, Chairman of the Board of Troika Dialog, a large investment bank and asset management firm in Russia and the CIS.
Vardanyan describes the project, which costs an estimated $35 million, as “ambitious”, a project that “will not be profit-making, but is a necessary investment for Armenia.”
“There is no such school in the whole post Soviet territory and we’ve decided that if we are to do it, then we should do it at the highest level, that we will choose the best teachers from abroad, about 60 teachers, and the most effective curricula in order to give the best education possible,” says Vardanyan’s wife, member of the school’s Board of Trustees Veronika Zonabend.
The school complex, besides the four-storied building of a gymnasium and several residential cottages, will include two indoor and outdoor gyms, tennis courts, swimming pools, an indoor and outdoor concert hall for 600 spectators and orchards.
President Serzh Sargsyan, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony on April 9, and together with Vardanyan planted the symbolic “tree of science” in the school’s apple orchard, considers the project to be “unprecedented.”
“I am grateful to Mr. Vardanyan and his wife for initiating such an unprecedented project. We are a small nation and can have success only due to quality and it [quality] is possible to achieve through good education and knowledge,” said President Sargsyan.
The teaching language for main subjects at school will be English. Not only Armenians, but also children of other nationalities will be invited to study there, according to Vardanyan. The businessman says the education quality at the school will be such that its graduates will be able to enter the world’s best universities.
The school is expected to open in September 2013, and the summer camp affiliated with the school will open in June the same year.
“The idea of building the school emerged in a very simple way. Our children were growing up and we wished to send them to summer camps of Armenia so that their bonds with the Motherland became stronger. However, there was no establishment that would correspond to such international standards,” says Vardanyan.
Zonabend adds that from the very beginning it was planned to establish a summer camp, however later they saw a demand for such a school.
“When we developed the business plan, we understood that huge construction work would be carried out and it will be used for only a few months, now we’ve learned also that many children from Armenia are sent to study at Regent’s School in Thailand and thought: ‘Why go to Thailand if we could provide the same or perhaps better quality here as well?’,” says Zonabend.
The importance of the establishment of such a school is also emphasized by Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan. He describes the idea of establishing the school as “a display of great patriotism.”
According to the minister, a few dozen children a year are sent to study at similar schools in Europe; only last year 18 children left for Thailand to study at Regent’s School.
The school, of course, will require a fee to study. The size of the fee has yet to be decided. But according to Zonabend, fees there will be a little lower than international fees for similar schools, about $10,000 a year. The school founders, at the same time, promise that a special charity foundation will be established to provide scholarships to talented children and the number of such pupils will make about 30 percent.
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, comments not pertaining to the topic or containing slander or offensive language will be deleted. You have to be registered to be able leave your comment. Sign in or Register now for free.
An international boarding school for 13-18 year-olds, the first of its kind in the region, will open in 2013, in the lap of the beautiful nature of Dilijan, a resort town in northern Armenia about 60 miles (about 100 km) away from capital Yerevan. The founders of the school say by its level and quality the school will not yield to similar international schools abroad.
The establishment of the Dilijan International School of Armenia (http://www.dilijanschool.org) meant for about 600 pupils was initiated by Moscow-based businessman Ruben Vardanyan, Chairman of the Board of Troika Dialog, a large investment bank and asset management firm in Russia and the CIS.
Vardanyan describes the project, which costs an estimated $35 million, as “ambitious”, a project that “will not be profit-making, but is a necessary investment for Armenia.”
“There is no such school in the whole post Soviet territory and we’ve decided that if we are to do it, then we should do it at the highest level, that we will choose the best teachers from abroad, about 60 teachers, and the most effective curricula in order to give the best education possible,” says Vardanyan’s wife, member of the school’s Board of Trustees Veronika Zonabend.
The school complex, besides the four-storied building of a gymnasium and several residential cottages, will include two indoor and outdoor gyms, tennis courts, swimming pools, an indoor and outdoor concert hall for 600 spectators and orchards.
President Serzh Sargsyan, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony on April 9, and together with Vardanyan planted the symbolic “tree of science” in the school’s apple orchard, considers the project to be “unprecedented.”
“I am grateful to Mr. Vardanyan and his wife for initiating such an unprecedented project. We are a small nation and can have success only due to quality and it [quality] is possible to achieve through good education and knowledge,” said President Sargsyan.
The teaching language for main subjects at school will be English. Not only Armenians, but also children of other nationalities will be invited to study there, according to Vardanyan. The businessman says the education quality at the school will be such that its graduates will be able to enter the world’s best universities.
The school is expected to open in September 2013, and the summer camp affiliated with the school will open in June the same year.
“The idea of building the school emerged in a very simple way. Our children were growing up and we wished to send them to summer camps of Armenia so that their bonds with the Motherland became stronger. However, there was no establishment that would correspond to such international standards,” says Vardanyan.
Zonabend adds that from the very beginning it was planned to establish a summer camp, however later they saw a demand for such a school.
“When we developed the business plan, we understood that huge construction work would be carried out and it will be used for only a few months, now we’ve learned also that many children from Armenia are sent to study at Regent’s School in Thailand and thought: ‘Why go to Thailand if we could provide the same or perhaps better quality here as well?’,” says Zonabend.
The importance of the establishment of such a school is also emphasized by Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan. He describes the idea of establishing the school as “a display of great patriotism.”
According to the minister, a few dozen children a year are sent to study at similar schools in Europe; only last year 18 children left for Thailand to study at Regent’s School.
The school, of course, will require a fee to study. The size of the fee has yet to be decided. But according to Zonabend, fees there will be a little lower than international fees for similar schools, about $10,000 a year. The school founders, at the same time, promise that a special charity foundation will be established to provide scholarships to talented children and the number of such pupils will make about 30 percent.
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