By Nikola Petrou Kaparti
The strong reactions on the part of students to the large number of competitions they will attend during the second quarter continue, as well as to the volume of material they are asked to assimilate before the exams are held next May. At the same time, teachers demonstrate that there are problems, however the issue with the syllabus should not be a concern for the students since at the moment the frameworks for all subjects are being clarified.
"Headache" over syllabus and exams
Specifically, in a statement to the Cyprus Times, the president of the Pancyprian Coordinating Committee of Pupils (PCSCP), Grigoris Grigoriou, points out that in a period of 56 days, i.e. as many as the second quarter until the exams, students are asked to sit in 20 to 25 exams, at the same time, he notes, 'we have to cover the huge amount of material attributable to the second quarter, which is similar to the first quarter, while its days are much shorter'.
"For this reason," he explains, "we call on the Ministry to make an immediate restructuring of the syllabus, so that it can be planned now how to use the minimum time of the second quarter to cover the syllabus and to prepare for the May examination period and the seniors for the two consecutive examination periods (May-June)."
In addition, the president of the students' movement described as tragic the fact that the Ministry of Education has not yet announced the reconfigured syllabus and has not consulted with the relevant bodies "to see how we proceed for the good of both students and teachers."
Commenting on the Minister of Education's statements on state television, referring to the demand by organised secondary school parents to suspend the second quarter examinations for the third grade and technical schools, the PESM president said that "it is good not to see this authoritarianism from the Ministry of Education".
"We have seen Mr Prodromou state that we will not start the same discussion. But it is not a debate, the minister must not forget that. He did not have a discussion with us this year, but he came and imposed this institution despite the reactions of us and our parents and teachers," Grigoris Grigoriou added.
"This situation must not continue and something must be done immediately for the best possible for the students," he stressed.
"Clarify the framework for all courses," says OELMEK
Asked to comment on the reactions arising from students, vice-president of OELMEK, Themis Polyviou, told the Cyprus Times that: "problems exist. But to call a spade a spade, we have moved and defined the frameworks for each course after many efforts and meetings with the Ministry of Education."
"At the moment we are clarifying the frameworks for all subjects based on the time we have available," he added.
He noted that "anyway, even if there were no quarter exams there would be quarter exams and at the end there would be final exams. So, the problem is not whether they take 23 or 25 exams during the quarter."
"The point is to avoid all these phenomena that happened during the quarter exams, with all these problems that were caused and we could have avoided them with a suspension especially of the Grade 3 exams," he explained. Polyviou.
Asked about the arguments put forward by students about the limited time available in the second quarter, Mr. Polyviou replied that "especially for the second quarter this is not the case, because even when there were no quarter exams, from the middle of May - especially the third grade students - they did not come to school. Now compulsorily by May 13, which is the exam, they will be in school."
Regarding the syllabus, Mr. Polyviou said that the whole issue has been clarified and after their meeting with the Director of Secondary Education, all inspectors were instructed to prepare the frameworks and they in turn sent them to the Associations and where there was a problem, it was pointed out and corrective action was taken.
Problem with one-hour classes
Beyond that, the vice president of the teachers' educational organization explained that "there are some problems in relation to time constraints. For example, when you have a course that is one-hour you only have 7-9 class periods to teach it in the entire quarter. But there is a problem because it is a one-hour course and there is a possibility of holidays coinciding and lessons being missed."
"But the context of the syllabus in general is set based on actual working days. This is clear," he concluded.
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