PRESS RELEASE
May 23, 2006

ATP Breathes Life Into Environmental Education in Armenia by Organizing Training for Teachers and Tree-Planting Guidance for Communities

ATP organized a training course to show teachers from Syunik, Lori, Kotayk, and Yerevan how to use its new environmental education curriculum

YEREVAN--After publishing its environmental education curriculum, “Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree,” for public school students, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) sponsored a special teacher training course on April 25-29 to explain how to use the teacher’s manual.

A total of 16 teachers from Yerevan and the regions of Syunik, Lori, and Kotayk participated in the “Training of Trainers,” organized by Dr. Gayane Ghukasyan, ATP Environmental Education Program Manager.

In his welcoming speech, ATP Director of Operations Vache Kirakosyan emphasized the importance of teaching the environmental education curriculum in local schools, and thanked all attendees for participating with ATP. “Your cooperation is very important to increase the awareness of environmental issues, specifically among Armenia’s youth,” he stated. “As a result of our work together, we may reap fruit in the very near future. The assistance received from such motivated and devoted educators as yourselves is another step toward improving the ecological situation in our country.”

All lessons were based on the contents of ATP’s environmental education curriculum, which is available online at http://armeniatree.org/whatwedo/eea.htm. The lessons were designed for students in grades 4-9 in more than 1,400 schools throughout Armenia.

The workshop was also attended by Artashes Torosyan and Marine Aghajanyan from the Ministry of Education and Science, Amalia Poghosyan from the Armenia Social Investment Fund, and ATP supporter Joseph Matossian of California.

The honored guests expressed their appreciation and admiration to the teachers and the presenters. Artashes Torosyan expressed his confidence in the preparation of the teachers, who will be going on from the workshop to conduct similar training for their colleagues.

ATP staff organized a training and tree planting with the kindergarten class at Kurtan village

Vache Kirakosyan presented “Certificates of Participation” to each of the trainees, thanking them for their input and enthusiasm during the workshop. Anonymous evaluation sheets revealed that the participants were very pleased with the content and process of the training.

“It would be an honor for me to continue collaborating with the ATP Environmental Education Program, as I feel this gives me an overall understanding of a new methodology along with practical advice which I will definitely apply in my teaching activity,” wrote one teacher in the evaluation. Another teacher believed the program should be expanded to the governmental level under the slogan “Our Planet Belongs to Us.”

In addition to the environmental education training course, ATP’s Spring tree planting campaign was accompanied by trainings organized by the Community Tree Planting (CTP) Program at 19 sites all over Armenia. A total of 1,334 community residents participated in the ATP trainings.

To ensure a high survival rate of trees at sites, ATP created guidelines on tree planting and care. Prior to planting, CTP staff distributed the information to local residents and trained them on topics such as the special care different varieties of trees require, proper depth for planting new seedlings, how often to irrigate seedlings, and how to monitor the growth of the trees.

According to ATP site monitor Seyran Honhannisyan, “I was astonished to see the children so well acquainted with planting techniques. Our training allowed the children to get not only theoretical but also practical knowledge. While putting seedlings in the soil, they were asking us great questions regarding insects, plant diseases, and applicable pesticides, so we had an opportunity to educate them even further on tree care.”

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