About 185 schools in Armenia have joined the "Spare" international educational program over the past 11 years to teach children how to save energy, officials say.

Hrant Sargsyan, the program's educational coordinator, said Wednesday that the main objective of the program is cultivating awareness of energy conservation amongst Armenia's youngsters. Tremendous participation by children has been observed since the program launched in 2001.

Levon Vardanyan, a European Union energy expert, said one of the current tasks of the Armenian government is providing energy to people, "whereas saving energy should become a lifestyle for Armenia."

"We must do everything we can to prevent the early 90's experiences from happening again," he said.

Armenia gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 which was followed by a total economic collapse and complete halt of energy supply to the population. The country experienced scheduled blackouts until the end of 1995 when 24-hour electricity supplies again became available. Endit