Page 170 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

Educational Role 171

momentum and took different forms and
expressions. As parishes built churches and
schools, these closely interrelated institutions
became the backbone of Armenian commu-
nities, ensuring their strength and shaping
their identity. Today, the vast majority of the
schools in the diaspora are church-related
and are considered community schools. They
are financed, and administered by the Church;
they follow the curriculum of the country in
which they operate, and, as private insti-
tutions, they include in their curriculum
courses on Armenian language, history,
culture, and religion.
For all Armenian schools, private and
church-related alike, the Armenian Christian
formation of students and academic excel-
lence are fundamental. The school fosters
the self-understanding of the students and
deepens their faithfulness to the Armenian
Christian traditions and values. It protects
their Armenian Christian identity and pre-
serves the treasury of the nation's spiritual,
moral, national, and cultural values. There-
fore, the school is not simply an educational
institution; it is, in a sense, the extension
of the Church and a ‘little Armenia’ outside
of Armenia. These are the reasons that
strenuous efforts are being made to ensure
that the children of Armenian families
receive, at the very least, their primary edu-
cation in Armenian schools.