Thousands of public secondary and technical school students across Cyprus are protesting on Thursday over the education ministry’s decision to continue with twice yearly exams.
Both students and teaching unions oppose the exams while the government is citing recent higher marks as a sign that the new measure was working.
Dozens of buses from major cities are carrying students to Nicosia where they were expected to march to the Presidential Palace to voice their demand for the abolition of the twice yearly process they believe is exercising undue pressure, in psychological and academic terms.
According to a Cyprus News Agency report from Paphos, police were checking buses for road safety purposes and to prevent students from carrying firecrackers or any other objects that might be used in the protest, the city’s assistant police chief Michalis Ioannou told CNA.
Students say the education ministry is refusing to recognise that the measure is problematic and take steps to alleviate the situation, insisting on carrying on with something that “has victimised thousands of students, destabilised the operation of school units and has put additional strain on thousands of teachers”.
Lyceum students, particularly final years are protesting over the fact, as they say, that the exams have been introduced against a backdrop of three pandemic years that have left their mark on the educational process and what they’ve actually been able to learn.
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