YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian educational centers of the Diaspora besides giving education have a more difficult and responsible mission: they should educate the young generation living far from the homeland by the Armenian spirit. RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobian stated this at the January 27 online meeting with representatives of Los Angeles Armenian educational centers. She expressed Ministry's readiness to assist them in that difficult issue. According to H. Hakobian, virtual education is of much importance in the issue of educating Armenians in the Diaspora by the Armenian spirit. She said that the Armenian General Benevolent Union has already created a virtual college with YSU. According to H. Hakobian, the Ministry will organize a program under the title Come Home to contribute to the important issue of preservation of Armenian identity, within the framework of which groups of 15-25-year-old Diasporan Armenian young people will visit Armenia. During the visit they will live in Armenian families, will take part in Armenian language courses, will get acquainted with historic-cultural monuments. "During the days of visits everything should be done so that those young people's abstract, imaginary homeland will become real and they return as Armenians," H. Hakobian said. Attaching importance to more frequent organization of such meetings, the Minister said that the problems of teaching the Armenian Language, Armenian History, History of Armenian Church subjects in the Diaspora should be discussed jointly. The issue of making more attractive the teaching of the Armenian Language subject was raised by representatives of the Armenian colonies of Diaspora. According to them, under the current high technologies for children it has become more attractive to study English than Armenian. It was mentioned that the RA Ministry of Education and Science plans also to publish the textbooks in the form of disks. During the meeting it was proposed creating a commission of Armenian educational centers' representatives, working out and submitting programs.

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