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The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Mr. Prodromos Prodromou had a meeting today at the Ministry with the President and members of the leadership of the Pancyprian Confederation of Associations of Parents' Associations of Primary Education Schools. The meeting was also attended by the Director of Primary Education, Mr. Marios Stylianides.
After the meeting, the Minister of Education made statements to journalists.
In particular, Mr. Prodromou said: "Today we had a meeting with the leadership of the Pancyprian Confederation of Associations of Parents' Associations of Primary Education Schools under its new composition, I thanked them for the valuable consultation that the Ministry always has with organized parents, as well as with our teachers, because education is a collective affair and we always count on the cooperation and support that we can have from parents, especially in these extremely difficult conditions of the pandemic.
First of all, I informed the Confederation about the procedures and the effort we are making these days with these conditions, because of the many absences we have. I explained the ways in which we have been able so far and intend to continue to make up any absences in order to have teachers in the schools. Indeed, with the great efforts - both of the school principals and the teachers - we are managing through substitutions made by the Education Service Commission, through substitutions that are planned to be made through the existing teachers in the schools, but also through the use, particularly in primary education, of other resources that we have from parallel programmes of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth (MESY), to make up for teachers who are absent.
These days - based on yesterday's Cabinet Decisions, and following a proposal from the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health - we are discussing a new procedure for handling contacts, so that we can support the operation of schools in a more effective way.
As a reminder, the process of diagnostic checks within schools has begun and primary schools will also be required to have diagnostic checks every 72 hours, i.e. twice a week. We are thus creating a safety shield, because the objective remains twofold: to keep the schools open, but also to provide the health security that we must not in any way sacrifice.
We have heard from the parents' side some comments and some suggestions. They are particularly concerned about how the education of children who stay away from schools is covered. We need to take full advantage of the possibilities that have been developed with digital media to cover children who are absent. There are many challenges in schools at the moment, but we need to look after and support, first and foremost, the children.
At the same time, I have informed parents that these days, in collaboration with the team of academics with whom the Pedagogical Institute is working, we are completing the groundwork for conducting the nationwide survey to record more consistently and accurately the psycho-emotional factors, i.e. how children have been affected in schools because of the pandemic. We will of course remain in permanent communication and in constant cooperation with the Pancyprian Confederation.
I want to thank the President Mr. Frixo Zebyla and his colleagues, because we really had a productive meeting and this is how we will continue", said the Minister of Education in conclusion.
Afterwards, Mr Prodromou answered questions from journalists.
Asked about the changes that will be made to the protocol that exists in schools based on yesterday's decisions of the Council of Ministers, Mr Prodromou pointed out that: "The recommendation we have is that based on the experience so far and the pandemic response procedures, children who are close contacts should be treated differently.
After the established rapid diagnostic tests, children who are identified as contacts, but of course have a negative indication, will continue to attend school, provided that they have an additional rapid antigen detection test at the sampling sites, outside the schools. Of course, in no way do we mean that children will do the test alone at this age. I don't think it lends itself to a backlash, from what I've heard. It is a collective effort. If we handle the procedures, in terms of close contacts, containment and diagnoses in a different way, we might gain some things in terms of the operation of the schools. That's the goal.
We are currently in consultation and collaboration with the Ministry of Health to see, based on their advice, how best to implement this. But it is something that will help us, not only for the need for substitutions, but more importantly for the key objective, which is that children receive to the maximum extent possible the best possible education, and the best possible education is to be in school. Without risking the collective health or the health of anybody."
In response to a question regarding strike action by the PDED, the Education Minister said: "Since the beginning of the school year, our common stated goal, both with the PDED and with parents and with everyone, is that we want open and safe schools, a strike would mean a closed school, but I don't think there is any question of that."
In response to a question regarding quarterly exams, the Education Minister said: "The exams begin tomorrow, as they were in December 2019, as they were in May 2020, depending on the circumstances of the pandemic. Had it not been for the pandemic, we would have had two quarterly exams in 2019-20, two in 2020-21 and this year we will have two quarterly exams in high school. For now, we can start without any problem in the first quarter of high schools and technical schools, which will happen tomorrow and I can say that in the next period - after the first class which is common for everyone - the presence of children in high schools and technical schools, since it will be an examination period, will be much thinner, which happens to help us in the management of the pandemic."
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