YEREVAN. – President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, issued a message in connection with the International Knowledge Day. 

“Improvement of the educational process has been and continues to be a key priority for us. At the end of the day, all this is being done for our country. Armenia can solely be an educated one; another Armenia simply cannot exist.     

I especially congratulate all of Armenia’s first-graders. They are starting out on that road whereby they will explore a new and boundless world, the world of knowledge.

I wish success to all teachers and lecturers, all schoolchildren and university students in the new education year; may it be productive, since the power and picture of tomorrow’s Armenia will be conditioned on that productiveness,” the President’s message reads in particular.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the International Knowledge Day is observed on Saturday and throughout the world, including in Armenia.  

A total of 1,462 schools in the country will open their doors before the schoolchildren this year, Education and Science Ministry’s Information and Public Relations Department informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.  

Approximately 37,000 first-graders are expected to attend classes in the 2012/2013 school year in Armenia. Incidentally, this number was 35,948 in the 2010/2011 school year, and likewise 37,000 in the previous school year.

The Ministry also informed that since September 1 is on a Saturday this year, there will be no classes on this day, but everyone will go to school to mark International Knowledge Day; the classes will get underway on September 3. 

Also, 12,108 applicants have been enrolled in Armenia’s institutions of higher education this year. And 10,470 of them will receive paid and 1,638 will receive state-funded education.