YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. Yerevan Lycee after Anania Shirakatsi (www.shirakatsylycee.com) and Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society's Melankton and Haig Arslanian Djemaran (Lyceum) in Antelias (Lebanon) will outline their cooperation programs. This agreement was reached at the Yerevan meeting of the Director of Shirakatsi Lycee Ashot Alikhanian and the Executive Director of Arslanian Djemaran Tigran Jinbashian. According to the latter, he visited Shirakatsi Lycee to familiarize himself with the conditions, in which Arslanian Djemaran's teacher of Armenian literature Shaghik Mkrtchian-Papazian conducted retraining courses, as well as with the educational conditions of the children of several graduates of Djemaran. As T. Jinbashian put it, Ashot Alikhanian turned an ordinary visit into a practical meeting. The director of Shirakatsi Lycee said that following T. Jinbashian's visit, a meeting-discussion was organized. On the initiative of Marilu Papazian - Chairperson of the Lycee Parental Council, a Diaspora Armenian who has resided in Armenia for over 10 years - Arslanian Djemaran's graduates engaged in active work in Armenia were invited to the meeting. In the opinion of T. Jinbashian, the process of making the two lycees "sisters" has already begun, and their cooperation may involve programs on the exchange of various groups of teachers and pupils. A. Alikhanian in his turn noted that a joint working group will be set up to clarify the programs of cooperation between the lycees. He considered the use of Western Armenian at Shirakatsi Lycee and the organization of contacts among pupils of the two lycees via the Internet as another possible direction of cooperation. A. Alikhanian expressed conviction that Shirakatsi Lycee and Arslanian Djemaran as two high-quality Armenian educational institutions must assist each other and also contribute to the development of the educational system of the Armenians around the world. In his words, Shirakatsi Lycee, which was founded in 1990, performs the task of preparing true Armenian intellectuals, citizens of Armenia and the world in such a way that throughout their lives, the Shirakatsi Lycee graduates remain honest, fair, devoted to the nation, and they carry all other universal values that form the basis of Christianity. According to A. Alikhanian, the work of Arslanian Djemaran is based on the same system of values, and he had a chance to make sure of that during the trip of the delegation headed by Shirakatsi Lycee Deputy Director Arpine Papazian to Arslanian Djemaran in the early 1990s. Moreover, it is said in the introduction to the Shirakatsi Lycee's regulations approved in 1992 that the Lycee as a center for preparing future intellectuals and citizens must continue in the proper way the work, which was initiated at one time by Moscow Lazaryan Lycee, Etchmiadzin Gevorgyan Lycee, Tbilisi Nersesian School and is being continued now by a number of excellent educational institutions of the Diaspora, including Neshan Palanjian Djemaran - presently called Melankton and Haig Arslanian Djemaran. The executive director of Arslanian Djemaran mentioned the high prices of Beirut-Yerevan air tickets and Armenian hotels as an obstacle to the implementation of programs on the exchange of teachers and pupils. He said that Arslanian Djemaran started to function under the name "Armenian Lyceum" as long ago as 1930. This school was founded by Hamazkayin in Cairo in 1928. Among its founders were high-ranking officials of the First Republic of Armenia: Vice Speaker of the parliament Levon Shant, Minister of Education Nikol Aghbalian, Prime Minister Hovhannes Kajaznuni and others. The aim of the school was to preserve the Armenian literature and culture for the Diaspora under formation and to prepare intellectuals to head Diaspora structures. Initially there were 15 pupils at the school that offered secondary education. Later senior classes, a preschool section, a kindergarten and a day nursery were opened. After being moved to Beirut, in the 1930-1940s the school was located in a rented building. In 1950, thanks to the donation of the Palanjian sisters, a fine estate in downtown of Beirut was purchased. Prior to that, it was the center of French navy officers, and even now it is still considered one of the famous historic buildings in Lebanon. The school was named Neshan Palanjian Djemaran - after the prematurely deceased brother of the Palanjians. In the 1970s the number of its pupils grew to such an extent that the two large buildings constructed in the estate did not meet the school's needs any more, so the Central Committee of Hamazkayin deemed it expedient to construct a third building in Antelias near Beirut in 1987. The brothers Melankton and Haig Arslanian - prominent figures in the gem and jewellery business made a donation for this purpose. Arslanian Djemaran currently has 750 pupils.

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