By Nicolas Petros Kaparti[/I]
The pandemic of the coronavirus and the way it is being managed in schools by the relevant ministries is once again causing unrest on the education front.
As reported in a previous report of the Cyprus Times Times, the PDOED Board of Directors, which met on Thursday morning, locked the decision, taken by the educational organisation two weeks ago, to hold a one-hour stoppage (07:30-08:25) next Monday, February 7, as a reaction measure to the way the pandemic is being handled in schools.
In addition, the educational organization decided to give two weeks to the Ministry of Education to meet its demands, and if they are not heeded, it is possible that the Board will proceed with new reaction measures.
[/P]Specifically, the teachers' organization is asking the Ministry of Education to take substantial measures in kindergartens and special schools, to adopt substantial solutions to replace teachers who are absent, and to announce a specific timetable for the installation of ventilation systems and air quality control in classrooms.
Speaking to the Cyprus Times, the general secretary of the PDED, Harris Charalambous, said that the PDED Board of Directors was forced to implement the decision taken 15 days ago to hold a one-hour work stoppage on Monday morning as a sign of protest against the situation in our schools due to the measures taken to deal with the pandemic.
"Nevertheless," notes Mr. Charalambous, "the organization will give another 15 days of credit to the Ministries of Education and Health, to find solutions to the problems that exist so that we can function and not be forced to take other measures, which we want to avoid."
Asked what problems led to this decision of the educational organization, Mr. Charalambous replied that "the main problems that our schools are facing at the moment are the pandemic management measures,
mainly in pre-primary and special education, where there are almost no measures to protect students and teachers from this very, very contagious strain of the virus that exists today, so we see every day the closure of sections of kindergartens one after another."
"That is, to take at least some rudimentary measures to protect children and pre-primary teachers," he added.
Beyond that, according to the secretary general of the educational organization, is the issue of substitutions, which concerns all levels. "Unfortunately the problem is growing, unfortunately there are no solutions, unfortunately the Ministry of Education has not taken the decisions it should have taken long ago to give the incentives or even the obvious to the replacements so that they can work, and as a result we are finding it very difficult to find replacements," he added.
He stressed that what they are asking from the Ministry of Education is to find solutions and take decisions that will allow the replacements to work.
Asked if they are satisfied with the measure taken by the Ministry that the replacements who will be ill with coronavirus will not lose their salary, Charalambous said that it is a measure in the right direction but it is too small to create the conditions they want.
Asked if the PDED's Board had considered the thoughts on the part of the Ministries of Health and Education that the test to stay measure should also be applied to teachers, Mr. Charalambous replied that they had not considered the issue at all, while explaining that the test to stay was a reason for several problems that were added to those that existed.
"With the implementation of the test to stay, unfortunately, schools have been incredibly burdened and there is a huge disruption which does not help at all in the smooth running of the school," he concluded.
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