On June 25, 2024, the Photon Gymnasium in Gyumri celebrated a significant achievement with its inauguration as a Solar School, underscoring its dedication to sustainable education and renewable energy integration into the classroom. This event highlighted the Gymnasium’s efforts to lead by example in promoting environmental stewardship and innovative learning.

The ceremony began with an address by the School Principal, Karine Petoyan, who welcomed a large audience of teachers, students and special guests. These guests included Erik Tintrup, Chargé d’Affaires and permanent representative of the German Embassy in Yerevan, Benjamin Speth, advisor for German as a foreign language at the Central Agency for German Schools Abroad (ZfA) in Armenia, and Christoph Urbschat, owner and managing director of ideas into energy gGmbH and eclareon GmbH.

During the inauguration, a solar installer presented the photovoltaic system, which was built for educational purposes, to the students and explained how it works. The actual celebration then took place in the auditorium, where the headmistress received a certificate and three experimental kits for physics lessons.

In future, solar energy will be a topic in German and physics classes at the school, with the aim of familiarising students in Gyumri with renewable energy technologies.

The project was carried out by ideas into energy in close collaboration with eclareon and EUROSOLAR Georgia and is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.