MPs on Thursday will submit their last-minute amendments on the education ministry’s proposal for twice-yearly exams, expected to be voted during plenum later in the day.
Meanwhile, some parliamentarians accused the education ministry of concealing the opinion of the legal service on the issue, which was made known to them a day before the plenum.
According to Phileleftheros newspaper, which had access to the opinion, the legal service suggested procedures could be carried out that will help raise students’ marks which do not require legislative regulation.
But Education Minister Athena Michaelidou denied such claims, saying the ministry studied the opinion and concluded that the conditions for an upward regression of student grades were not met.
She reiterated that the only legal proposal in the moment is the ministry’s proposal which is before the plenary session of the parliament.
Under this proposal, the written exam of the second semester of the current school year will account for 20 per cent of students’ grades instead of 40 per cent, while students will only be examined on only 60 per cent of the teaching material.
On this, MPs will submit a total of three amendments, House Education committee chairman Pavlos Mylonas said on Wednesday.
One of them is by Diko, with MP Zacharias Koulias saying that the written exam for the first semester should remain at 40 per cent of the overall mark while for the second and third to be reduced at 20 per cent.
For his part, former Elam MP and now independent Andreas Themistokleous said exams should remain as they are for this year and any changes should be made for the next school year.
Another amendment is expected from Akel which provides for the overall grade of the exams in the first semester to be excluded from the calculation of the students’ final mark, media reported.
It is noted that at the end of May, the education ministry will present a bill for the abolition of the twice-yearly exams as of the new school year.
Meanwhile, the plenum is also expended to vote on whether to extend the civil servants’ working hours to alleviate the traffic problem, as well as the first supplementary budget for 2023, amounting to €75 million.
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