This year’s “Step to Home" program has ended. 400 young men from 24 countries stayed in their homeland for 14 days
Hayk Yengibaryan (Head of Division, Prime Minister’s Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, Republic of Armenia) - They are in Dsegh, in Tumanyan House-Museum, in the educational center, holding interesting meetings.
The visit to Erablur was very touching and emotional for them, and the visit to Vazgen Sargsyan Institute arouse strong Patriotic feelings.
On August 14, 2021, the educational program "Step to Home" was completed: 400 young men were in Armenia for 14 days - from Lori to Shirak, Tavush, Gegharkunik, Yerevan - to discover their Homeland, improve their native language and enhance national identity. This year, 800 young men aged 13-18 years applied to the program. 400 were selected from 24 countries, the ones who had never participated before and were the first to apply.
The head of the program, Hayk Yengibaryan, says that parents had concerns only at the beginning. And those concerns were not because of the security on the border, but because of the coronavirus restrictions.
Hayk Yengibaryan, - what restrictions are in force in Armenia, what changes will be made to follow the epidemiological rules, etc.
This is the reason why the program had 4 phases, so that all participants would not be in the hotel together.
The 14 days of the stay in Armenia were full of educational and cognitive components. Armenian language and history courses with specialists from "Teach for Armenia", visits, meetings at leading educational institutions, a military lunch and one day in the community.
Hayk Yengibaryan – They also participated in honey harvesting, did distill vodka and processed wool manually.
The government allocates about 67 million drams to implement this program. This amount may change next year. The Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs plans to welcome two times more - 800 young men next year. Alongside with summing up this year’s results, at the office are getting ready for the next year.
