A solemn ceremony of awarding State IT Educational Awards was held in Yerevan on Tuesday.

According to Armenian acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, freedom is an important component on the road to success.

“Freedom is the main achievement of the revolution. In our cutting-edge environment, it is almost impossible to achieve progress without political, economic and internal freedom,” he said.

A total of 43 people, including 25 students and 18 pupils,  became the laureates of the State Educational Award in the field of IT, while only 4 people were awarded for Grand Prix. The senior engineer of the Synopsys Armenia company Rafael Grigoryan was awarded the State prize.

Grigoryan, in his turn, admitted that he saw his future in Armenia. He recalled that the government of Armenia declared the high technology sector one of the priority directions of the country's development, and, according to him, the republic has all the necessary potential for this.

“However, large investments are needed for relevant laboratories. In addition, it is necessary to increase the number of training programs,” he added.

A 13-year-old Gyumri resident Ruben Sarkisyan was also awarded.

Ruben Sarkisyan told Armenian News- NEWS.am that he is interested in physics, mathematics and computer science. Ruben Sarkisian is also the student of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and the Yandex Programming School.

"I intend to continue my studies in the field of IT, to create artificial intelligence and my own robot,” he said.

Another laureate is Vardan Petrosyan, who has served in the Armenian armed forces in the communications department for three months.

“This award shows that I am on the right pace, and I need to further deepen my knowledge. I see my future in Armenia," he said.

Laureates of the State IT Education Award have also received a cash reward.

A total of  489 schoolchildren and students have been awarded the State IT Educational Prize.