By Nicolas Petros Kaparti
The road to the abolition of quarterly exams was opened by the statement of the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Parliament, Pavlos Mylonas, about the preparation of a proposal for laws that would abolish the "unpleasant procedure of four-monthly exams".
This is a statement that stirs the waters given that AKEL was the only one of the... major opposition parties that was vehemently opposed to the institution of examinations every four months and was promoting their abolition through legislative proposals.
Any development is of course expected to occur after the conclusion of the Presidential Elections and the reopening of the Parliament, with the bodies of Education that are strongly against the examinations every four months being prepared and seeing the prospect of abolishing such a problematic institution that has never been "embraced" by teachers and students with a "good eye".
Indicatively, Cyprus Times quotes the president of the PSEM, Alexandros Pachitis, who points out that "the system of evaluating exams every four months is an abject failure" and indicates that the students' movement has many times put forward the position for the abolition of this institution.
"We have repeatedly pointed out that "termly exams are a failed process that has victimized the vast majority of students, negatively affecting not only their education but also their mental and emotional health," explained Alexandros Pahitis.
Asked to comment on what will be the next steps of the student movement to make their abolitionist position feasible, the president of the PSEM replied that the student movement is calling for the immediate start of a meaningful dialogue to shape the new way of assessing students.
"We were led to this point due to the fact that the Ministry of Education ignored all the competent bodies, while for some time now we have been calling for the abolition of examinations every four months," the president of the students' movement stressed.
In the same vein, the statements of the president of OELMEK, Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos, who points out that the demand for the abolition of examinations every four months has never left the table and that it is a permanent position of the educational organisation.
As as mentioned in a previous report of the Cyprus Times, OELMEK will send letters to the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic to find out their positions on the issue,regarding the quarterly examinations, since it is an established position for the educational organization to abolish the institution.
"The answers we will receive will be sent to the teachers because for us the term exams are an important issue and we want the views of the presidential candidates," Constantinopoulos explained.
Organised Parents analyse the problematic points of the institution
For his part, the president of the Confederation of Secondary Education Parents, Haralambos Dionysiou, told the Cyprus Times, that "it has become apparent that the implementation of the four-month institution as it is evolving has created several problems in terms of the proper functioning within the school" and indicated that any legislative proposal for the abolition of the institution is expected to emerge after the Presidential Elections and will concern the new school year.
He explained that the main problem is that there is no useful teaching time so that children can absorb the material and prepare for the quarterly exams.
"Also, there is not enough time so that the teacher can do an initial assessment-diagnosis to support the student and prepare him/her properly for the exams," he added.
"The second", Mr. Dionysiou continued, "has become apparent during last year and the separation of the national exams, is that students through this institution are unfairly treated because their entire school year turned into a race since they had to sit for 3 exams. While the third negative thing that we see is the integration of the institution in high schools and especially in the first grade."
He noted that "the high school works completely differently than the Lyceum and the Technical School, because there they now have the general class which consists of 25 students of different learning levels."
Mr. Dionysiou also indicated that: "in the high school we have students who come from the primary school and a percentage have learning difficulties, a percentage have delinquent behaviour and a percentage are migrant biographies. And within all these data, a teacher, in a short period of time, has to be able to teach a lesson, to be able to get all the students to an average level and these babies have to be able to sit for a four-month exam."
"Many of these children and we believe that this will be evident from the results of the exams," Dionysiou added.
Asked to comment on whether the abolition of the institution is a one-way street, Dionysiou replied that "this institution cannot be implemented and the year cannot be broken with the mid-term exam."
"Perhaps the ideal would be through dialogue with the educational institutions and after the experience we have gained in these 3 years, to see if there are other ways to assess students," Mr. Dionysiou stressed in conclusion.
Therefore, the issue of the abolition of examinations every four months is expected to monopolize again the interest in the front of Education, after the Presidential Elections, with the new President of the Republic being called to manage the whole situation after the developments that are expected to occur.
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