Education as a Unique Opportunity for Life

One of the most prominent Armenian educators, Rima Khachatryan, an Honored pedagogue of the Republic of Armenia, celebrates her 80th birthday. She was born on April 3, 1038 into the family of emigrants from Eastern Turkey.

Her mother passed on her all the virtues obtained in the orphanage of the Near East Relief – love for freedom and liberty, mercy, tolerance and compression – providing her access to opportunities throughout her life.

"We always knew that, being immigrants and Genocide survivors, we have a special role and having an education gives us a special position in society to help the people to survive," her mother always told her about the years spent in the orphanage – and it was a philosophy that became part of Mrs. Khachatryan’s life.

Thus, she became a renowned teacher and a prominent trade union leader, and brought up her own two children in just the same way her mother did. So, the unique heritage of virtues, knowledge and values, obtained in the American orphanage, were passed on from generation to generation throughout the fierce and severe times during the whole century.

From her mother she also obtained the idea of vocational education (her mother attended a vocational school while being in the orphanage). In the years that followed she successfully implemented the idea in the Armenian educational system.

Her efforts to enhance nursing education, led to establishment of medical vocational schools in rural areas of Armenia (Gavar, Ararat, Hrazdan, Armavir, Martuni) during 1975-2015 as well as the first scientifically based nursing schools – the Schools of Nursing at St. Gregory the Illuminator Hospital (2008) and N11 Policlinic (1996) in Yerevan.

In 2002 she was awarded with an honorary certificate by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia for her contribution made to the expansion of the medical vocational educational institutions’ network in Armenia.

During her long career Rima Khachatryan received a lot of awards: Medals “Veteran of Labour” and “Anania Shirakaci”, The Prime-Minister’s Commemorative Medal, to name a few, but never stopped working and self-educating.  Diligence and self-development are, perhaps, the virtues, by which one can clearly define Rima Khachatryan’s personality.

N. Stambolcyan