Author: Karapetian Hovik

Gulf Weekly, Bahrain
July 5 2007

Education Special

Teaching to international heights

Shaikha Hessa Girls’ School, the first and only private girls’ school
in Bahrain, has recently received the significant honour of being
authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) as
an IB World School.

>From September onwards this impressive, friendly school in Riffa will
teach the IB programme to pupils in grades 11 and 12.
For GulfWeekly readers or the parents of teenage pupils who are
unaware of the implications of this distinction, the International
Baccalaureate diploma is recognised globally as a two-year study
programme which results in its students being placed at an advanced
level for university entry. It is equivalent to – and many say
better than – the British A-level examinations.
Shaikha Hessa is one of just six schools in Bahrain to offer this
important curriculum and it’s a huge accolade for a school which was
established six years ago with less than 10 pupils.
The school has grown and developed well throughout its short life,
reflecting the hard work and sheer enthusiasm of the staff and
students to reach academic excellence. The school also meets all
standards of the American Middle States Association for Schools and
Colleges (MSA).
When the IB and MSA accreditation teams visited Bahrain to inspect
the school campus a couple of months ago, the eight members were
apparently impressed by the standard of education, by the
well-prepared students they met and for SHGS’s broad-minded and
dynamic administration.
Now, at the end of this academic year, the girls seem as enthusiastic
as their teachers are that they have received such important
endorsements and the school’s success reflects strongly with an
increased enrolment of pupils.
At the time of writing, Adrine Katchadurian, principal of the school
since its inauguration, reports there are 380 girls entered into the
2007-08 academic year.
The establishment of a fee-paying, bilingual private girls’ school
was the dream of His Highness King Hamad and about nine years ago he
brought together a group of people who started to develop his idea.
In March 2001, Ms Katchadurian was hired from the Bahrain School
where she was IB and Arabic studies co-ordinator.
Ms Kathchadurian had then worked at Bahrain School more than 14 years
and was undoubtedly the right person to take on such an awesome task.

`When I started work here in 2001,’ she said, `the construction work
was no-where near finished. There were piles of rubble and sand
everywhere, so my office was initially located in a small villa
nearby in Awali.
`Absolutely nothing was ready for a new school: I had to plan the
curriculum, interview and hire the teachers, order all of the school
materials, oversee the building and construction to a certain extent
– and find some pupils too!
`But we couldn’t advertise for pupils until we’d devised a proper,
professional application form. There was just so much to think of and
do.
`A few months later, when Shaikha Hessa Girls’ School opened for our
first academic year we had eight pupils and 16 staff members, but by
the end of that year we had 18 pupils on the register from nursery
through to grade 3. And the school just took off after that.
`Our second year began with 100 students and by September ’06 we had
320 girls. Our first graduating class will be a year from now in the
summer of 2008,’ she announced with a proud smile, `so that will be
another huge milestone for us all.’
During the school’s short history, more classes have been included
and extensions added to the original complex. As the school owns the
surrounding land there is plenty of room upon which to grow in
future. Construction work continues through this summer and into the
following year, resulting in the campus being able to accommodate 600
pupils. They are currently building additional classrooms, science
laboratories and a two-storey reference and lending library.
The next phase includes the addition of a swimming pool and a second
gym.
This fee-paying school is a non-profit organisation offering
contemporary bi-lingual (Arabic and English) education with an
emphasis on traditional Islamic values. The children come from
across the social spectrum.
`We have a strong belief in teaching the importance of respect here,’
Ms Katchadurian added.
`It doesn’t matter where our girls come from or what their
backgrounds are. They are all taught to respect each other, to
become critical thinkers, to seek information and grow into lifelong
learners.
`We have moved away from traditional teaching methods and we don’t
believe in the rote method of learning. The girls have to learn to
problem-solve from a young age, to question and think for themselves.
Our girls are well-spoken and approachable.
`We have an open society, we encourage them to talk and we allow
their personalities to flourish. It seems to work for us all!’
Ms Katchadurian is an accomplished woman of Armenian descent. She
came to live in Bahrain in 1983 and soon joined the Bahrain School.
She’s always a busy woman: doyenne of the arts, a board member of
the Chaine des Rotisseurs and a leading character on the island’s
chic social circuit who’s invited to all the best events.
Years ago, Adrine described herself to me as someone who needs to
feel useful, who likes to be properly challenged. She now agrees
that she indeed took up quite a challenge back in 2001.
She said: `For the past six years, I have frequently worked more than
a 12-hour day, six-day week – but I’ve enjoyed it terribly. It’s been
so fulfilling to watch the school develop and grow. And then, it was
a monumental task to get such a relatively new school accredited by
the IBO and MSA, but it really was worth it.
`Everybody has been so supportive, there’s a very nice atmosphere
here and we all pull together.
`As well as my staff, the Board of Directors has continually done
whatever they can to help achieve our goals and make life easier for
all concerned.’
So it has all paid off.
The youngsters return to work at Shaikha Hessa Girls’ School for the
next academic year on September 2, when the syllabus will include an
IB programme for the older pupils.
`In the meantime’, said Ms Katchadurian, `I am very much looking
forward to our summer recess. I think I need a holiday now!’

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ARSHAK SADOYAN: ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND SERGE SARGSIAN WILL NOT "DIGEST" ISSUES CONNECTED WITH RADIO LIBERTY

Noyan Tapan
Jul 03 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Arshak Sadoyan, the Chairman of the
Union of National Democrats party, at the July 3 press conference, said
that the haste in the issue of closing the Radio Liberty is connected
only with the upcoming presidential elections. He mentioned that RA
President Robert Kocharian’s and Prime Minister Serge Sargsian’s regime
"will not digest the issues connected with the Radio Liberty."

A. Sadoyan stated that the party headed by him will struggle against
the "disgraceful process" of prohibiting the broadcasting of the
Radio Liberty and will not permit hiding of possible illegal acts in
the upcoming presidential elections.

A. Sadoyan said that in order to improve the situation in the sphere
of democracy we need to have an independent TV company in Armenia. In
his words, they are going to apply to the Council of Europe and a
number of international organizations with that issue.

The Chairman of the Union of National Democrats also said that the
opposition should unite around the already strengthened clan and
offer a common candidate for the presidential elections. S. Sadoyan
considered talks about nomination of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s candidature for the forthcoming elections "as a storm
in a teacup."

IMF OFFICIAL CONSIDERS CBA’S POLICY ON MAINTAINING FLEXIBLE FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE AND STABLE PRICES APPROPRIATE

Noyan Tapan
Jul 02 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Marta Castello Branco, the head of
the IMF delegation, which is in Armenia from June 26, at the July
2 press conference, said that the CBA’s policy on ensuring stable
prices and maintaining foreign currency flexible exchange rate
remains appropriate.

In her words, large foreign exchange influx to Armenia, which
is mainly related to remittances and investments in real estate,
has already resulted in a considerable appreciation of the RA dram,
which complicates the conduct of monetary policy. M. Castello-Branco
said that the above mentioned inflows are likely to continue in the
foreseeable future, and further dram appreciation is also inevitable,
which will come in the form of either nominal appreciation or
inflation.

As she evaluated, though export sectors and remittance-dependent
households have suffered from the appreciation, on the whole, the
Armenian economy remains competitive, the evidence of which are high
export rates. At the same time, it was mentioned that for maintaining
competitiveness of RA economy, it will require more efforts from the
RA government aimed at improving the business climate and raising
the productivity.

The IMF official emphasized that though the CBA can limit the nominal
appreciation of the dram, nevertheless, the government should continue
conducting reasonable tax and credit policy and exert efforts in the
direction of implementing such structural reforms, which will limit
appreciation pressures and will help enterprises to more easily adjust
to these pressures.

FRANCE’S POLICY TOWARDS ARMENIA WILL UNDERGO NO CHANGES WITH NEW PRESIDENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.07.2007 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ I can firmly say that in the person of new president
Nicolas Sarkozy, France will maintain traditional friendly policy
towards Armenia, French Ambassador to Armenia, Mr Serge Smessov said
in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"The foundation for friendly relationship is strong enough and has a
long-term outlook. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations,
we have worked for consolidation, deepening and diversification of
cooperation," he said.

PROPOSED LAWS WOULD CURB MEDIA FREEDOMS AND EFFECTIVELY BAN REGIONAL RADIO STATION, SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

IFEX, Canada
International Freedom of Expression eXpress
4542/
July 3 2007

Country/Topic: Armenia
Date: 03 July 2007
Source: Human Rights Watch
Person(s):
Target(s): radio station(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): legal action
Urgency: Bulletin
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 29 June 2007 Human Rights Watch press
release:

Armenia: Parliament Must Not Silence RFE/RL
Strike Down Proposed Laws Curbing Media Freedoms

(New York, June 29, 2007) – The Armenian parliament should not adopt
two draft laws that would effectively ban future broadcasts of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a key source of independent
information in that country, Human Rights Watch said today.

The first, an amendment to the law "On Television and Radio",
prohibits retransmission of foreign broadcasts on Armenian public
television and radio frequencies. The second, an amendment to the law
"On State Taxes", establishes heavy fees for private companies that
air foreign broadcasts.

Both draft laws passed a first reading on Friday in the National
Assembly of Armenia, but must undergo a second reading, expected on
Monday or Tuesday, before they become law.

"These new laws clearly restrict access to a crucial independent
news source for many Armenians and deal a serious blow to RFE/RL and
to freedom of the media in general," said Holly Cartner, Europe and
Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The parliament should
under no circumstances pass this bill in the second reading."

The parliament’s actions appear to specifically target RFE/RL’s
Armenian service, the only foreign broadcaster that relies on Armenian
National Radio, the country’s public radio station, to reach the
majority of its audience.

RFE/RL is one of the only independent broadcast media outlets remaining
in Armenia. Although there is a vibrant print media, the government
maintains close control over the much more accessible broadcast media,
and recently closed the last independent television station, A1+,
in 2002.

RFE/RL is also occasionally broadcast via some private radio stations
in the country’s capital, Yerevan, and surrounding regions, but under
the proposed laws, private Armenian broadcasters would pay more
than US$200 in taxes each time they retransmit a program produced
by a foreign media organization. This fee is 70 times more than
broadcasters must pay for a locally made program.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE)
representative on freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti, criticized the
bills, saying that they infringed Armenia’s commitments to safeguard
media pluralism and access to information, and called on the Armenian
authorities to drop them. Opposition politicians in Armenia lamented
the parliament’s decision to pass the bills and charged the government
with trying to control the media.

The two bills are incompatible with Armenia’s obligations under
the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 10 of the
ECHR guarantees the right "to receive and impart information and
ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of
frontiers." This right can only be restricted for limited and specific
reasons such as national security or public safety. The restrictions
placed on the rights of expression and imparting of information
by the bills do not meet these requirements. The importance of the
rights protected by Article 10 has been repeatedly emphasized by the
European Court of Human Rights. The court maintains that freedom of
expression is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society
and that the media plays a pre-eminent role in a state governed by
the rule of law. The court insists that any efforts by a government
to restrict freedom of expression be strictly scrutinized and the
reason convincingly established.

"By passing these laws, Armenia risks violating its international
commitments to freedom of expression and the media," said Cartner.

"As Armenia prepares for presidential elections in 2008, the world
will certainly be watching to see if the government respects freedom
of the media and other freedoms necessary for a free and fair vote."

The move is not the first effort by the Armenian government to limit
independent media. The independent television station A1+ lost its
broadcasting license in 2002, after regularly airing criticism of the
government, and lost 12 subsequent tenders for television and radio
frequencies. In June 2006, A1+, which produced a weekly newspaper and
maintains a website, was forced to vacate its offices, after losing
a court case in 2005 challenging a notice of eviction.

Human rights groups have reported violence against journalists in
retaliation for their work, and in September a court sentenced Arman
Babajanian, editor of the opposition newspaper Zhamanak Yerevan, to
four years in prison for failing to serve the compulsory two years of
military service. Although Babajanian admitted to forging documents
in 2002 in order to evade military service, the harsh sentence is
suspected to be retribution for the journalist’s persistent criticism
of government policies (draft evaders are usually sentenced to between
two and three years in prison).

Interfax Russia
June 30 2007

Six presidents attending horse race in Rostov-on-Don

ROSTOV-ON-DON. June 30 (Interfax) – A horse race for the Russian
president’s prize has begun at the hippodrome in Rostov-on-Don.

In addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, attending the event
are President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Islam Karimov of
Uzbekistan, President Vladimir Voronin of Moldova, President Robert
Kocharian of Armenia, and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The
presidents are sitting at one table and actively communicating.

Armenian President Kocharian and Azeri President Aliyev are sitting
side by side watching the competition with great interest.

Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh should make mutual territorial
concessions in order to attain peace

arminfo
2007-06-29 20:13:00

Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh should make mutual territorial
concessions in order to attain peace, Rector of Sorbonne University
Gerard-Francois Dumont said during scientific conference Minorities and
Conflicts in South Caucasus.

He said that the sides must be ready for making mutual concessions and
establishing new borders. The ideal scenario would be an agreement on
the integrity of the whole region. This would guarantee free movement
and safety for all nations of the region.

ARA NAZARYAN APPOINTED RA DEFENSE MINISTER

armradio.am
29.06.2007 10:28

With RA President Robert Kocharyan’s decree of June 28, Ara Nazaryan
was dismissed from the position of the member of the Civil Service
Council and was appointed Deputy Defense Minister of the Republic of
Armenia, President’s Press Office informs.

ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJAN SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURE FIGURES TOUR KHANKANDI, YEREVAN AND BAKU AT PRESIDENTS’ SUPPORT

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 29 2007

Armenian President Robert Kocharian received on 28 June a group of
art and scientific figures of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

At the initiative of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Ambassadors
to Russian, Armen Smbatian and Polad Bulbuloglu, with support of
the presidents of the two countries they pay a one-day visit to
Khankandi, Yerevan and Baku, ITAR-TASS has been informed at the
Armenian President’s Administration.

Welcoming the initiative, President Kocharian stressed that the
establishment of contacts and confirmation of the confidence between
the publics of the two countries will be a good contribution to the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Despite the existing
realities, it is necessary to define the borders of cooperation
and Armenia is prepared to contrite in this process," the President
assured.

The guest spoke about the necessity of establishment of contacts
between the publics of the two countries, as well as the ways of such
contacts. To achieve a tolerance between the nations of Armenia and
Azerbaijan it is necessary to restore the past contacts and partners
relations of senior generations and to attract the youth to this
contacts.

After the meeting with the Armenian President public figures left
for Baku to meet with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

FIRST CONSIGNMENT OF TRAFFIC POLICE CARS TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA BY SEPTEMBER 1

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 28 2007

YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. The first consignment of new cars for
Traffic Police will arrive in Armenia by September 1, said Head of
Armenia’s Traffic Police Ishkhan Ishkanyan.

"At present significant reforms are being implemented in the structure
of Armenia’s Traffic Police. Unfortunately, we did not manage to
provide the World Bank’s participation in the reforms," he said and
added that the negotiations with the WB were conducted two years ago,
however, they had no positive results.

He said that the WB participation would have made the reforms of the
Traffic Police more effective and significant. However, Ishkanyan
assured that the reforms will be conducted irrespective of the WB
participation.

"There already exist corresponding decisions in this direction,
and by order of Head of Armenia’s Police financial assistance was
provided on purchasing corresponding vehicles with fixation video
equipment," Ishkanyan said. He said that it is also envisaged to
build an operative center of Traffic Police.

He said that only mobile police posts will remain in the structure of
the Traffic Police, all the other sentry posts that did not justify
themselves will be taken away, except those located near well-guarded
facilities. Ishkanyan also pointed out that the Traffic Police lacks
personnel, in particular, only in Yerevan there are 80-100 vacancies.

The total number of new cars for Armenia’s Traffic Police will make
350.