Armenia | ZANG Armenian Legal Socialization Project | 29 Sep 2010

On September 22, Armenian Police and Ministry of Education and Science in collaboration with PH International officially launched the School Resource Officers’ initiative in Armenia as part of the State Policy of Crime Prevention National Plan. The pilot phase includes SROs’ placement in 10 Yerevan high schools (schools # 119, 127, 118, 198, 139, 184, 105, 65, 29, and 114). The SROs will work closely with the school administration and school teachers to foster safe learning environment at schools and positive relationship with youth. They will also help identify at risk youth and assist with intervention before serious problems occur. As part of their activities, the SROs together with the school teachers will teach students ZANG legal socialization classes.

On September 22-23, PHI organized training sessions for the school administration and the selected SROs at the Yerevan Secondary School # 118. The training objectives included the following: (a) mutual introduction of 10 SRO school representatives and law enforcement officers; (b) overview of the SRO initiative in Armenia: introduction of SRO roles and responsibilities in schools; code of ethics and conduct; and (c) the training for the SROs and lead teachers on how to co-teach interactive classes using ZANG program’s “Legal Mosaic” and “My Social Surrounding and I” manual. The training engaged representatives of the Armenian Police, Department of Protection of Children, Women and Families, RA Ministry of Labour and Social Issues; General Education Department of the RA Ministry for Education and Science, and Education Department of the Yerevan Municipality as well as an international delegation working with juvenile issues and consisting of representative of a few countries such as Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, and Georgia. They all emphasized the significance of the project and wished good luck to the SROs and the school educators.