VIDEO. "The Spirit of Victory Must Develop": Pashinyan Awards Winners of the "Prime Minister's Cup" Competition

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, along with his wife Anna Hakobyan and daughter Arpi Pashinyan, attended the "Prime Minister's Cup" school team relay race held in the Tavush region, near Dilijan's Parz Lake. This was reported by the government.

Before the start of the competition, the Prime Minister met with participants and wished them success. For the first time, the competition was conducted with a two-day camp format. Eleven teams participated, each consisting of seven students (five boys and two girls), who completed a distance of 5000 meters. For the second consecutive year, the team from Syunik took first place, followed by the team from Areni in Vayots Dzor, with the team from Vanadzor in Lori finishing third.

The best runners were Mari Sargsyan from Shirak and Arthur Hambardzoumian from Syunik. Prizes for the top three teams and participants were awarded by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan. The best runners received their awards from the Prime Minister's wife, Anna Hakobyan. The Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan also attended the event.

The first-place school received 4 million drams, the second place 2 million 500 thousand drams, and the third place 1 million 500 thousand drams. The physical education teacher of the first-place team received 700 thousand drams, while each of the seven students on the team received 150 thousand drams. For the second and third places, the respective amounts for teachers were 500 thousand drams, and for students, 100 thousand drams, with 300 thousand drams for teachers and 75 thousand drams for students.

In his speech, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated: "I congratulate all of us on today's event. You know that we currently have four competitions under the title ‘Prime Minister’s Cup.’ I must admit that the school relay race clearly aligns with the initial idea, purpose, and spirit more than any other in the past two years, and I want to thank everyone for their active participation. We spent great time together yesterday and today and witnessed symbolic events. Yesterday, we had a very important discussion. By the way, that discussion was not about the prize; it was about the relationship between the individual and policy, the individual and the team. I was very happy to see and feel that our children, who are here for the race, can argue their viewpoints and substantiate their approaches very seriously. That is extremely important.

I followed our race's last participants with particular emotion, meaning the last ones approaching the finish line, and I don't know if that frame was captured anywhere—the second to last participant, approaching the finish line, obviously exhausted, understood that he was unlikely to score a prize-winning position, but as he neared the finish line, he raised his hand as if to claim his number. If that frame was photographed, I believe it could become one of the most important symbols of our competition. He was probably from the Ararat team. I want to thank you because it was essential that all participants concluded our competition with the same determination, the same resolve, and a clear awareness of their duties.

This is an important event. I believe those who followed the competition have answers to why so many state officials came and were involved here for two days. This is a vital endeavor because we understand and have concluded that there are many issues for which we should strive for solutions—understanding problems at a DNA level, and beginning from that level to solve them. It is no secret that our approach is that the spirit of victory, team spirit, and individual responsibility must develop from education, general education, schools, and kindergartens, and we see that this competition serves that purpose."

The Prime Minister thanked all organizers of the competition, including the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, for conducting it at a high level. Nikol Pashinyan also thanked the Ministry of Health for promoting a healthy lifestyle through the booths set up during the competition.

"In the 21st century, yes, it is fundamentally important to help people learn to eat according to a healthy lifestyle. We need to understand that this is the guarantee of development—learning to eat, learning to learn, learning to teach, learning to perceive, learning to understand, and learning to overcome. And this event, this competition is for that. Patriotism and national awareness are very important. We also want to diversify these competitions somewhat between the regions so that, yes, our internal mobility increases. It’s not even called tourism; it’s about learning to know your homeland in all its corners, because knowing is the most important means of understanding its interests and aspirations," said Nikol Pashinyan.