YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. A document on a 3-5-year cooperation will be signed between the RA Ministry of Education and Science and the "Microsoft RA" company, a branch of the "Microsoft" company, during the first half of 2008. This information was provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Grigor Barseghian, the Head of the "Microsoft RA". In his words, the "Microsoft" plans to declare amnesty for the schools of Armenia for having used the non-licenced software in approximately 10 thousand computers of those institutions. At the same time, the RA Ministry of Education and Science will be offered to install the licenced software packages of that company in the computers of the schools, to make use of the opportunity for installing new softwares without restrictions through the website of the "Microsoft" 2-3 dollars annually for one computer. According to G. Barseghian, the same conditions will work for using the software means of the "Microsoft" in the internal systems of the educational departments of the local self-government bodies, and the RA Ministry of Education and Science. It was mentioned that the systems of internal document circulation of the RA Ministry of Education and Science and that of government information are envisaged to be worked out in the "Microsoft Innovation Center" to open in Yerevan this month. The Head of the "Microsoft RA" also declared that through the cooperation with the RA Ministries of Trade and Economic Development, Education and Science, "Incubator of Enterprises" fund, the "Project Harmony" organization and a number of private companies, a pilot program is being implemented in the region of Syunik, which is aimed at studying the opportunities for using information technologies in the schools of Armenia. According to G. Barseghian, the software solutions of the "Microsoft" allow to organize online and correspondence courses, examinations, to conduct statistics on schools and pupils through the remotely located computer centers. In the opinion of G. Barseghian, particularly the schools of remote villages, where there is a lack of teachers of this or that subject, are in need of using such technologies. It was mentioned that the software packages of the "Microsoft" envisaged for schools are envisaged to be localized (made Armenian) in the "Innovation Center of Microsoft."

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