By Nicolas Peter Kaparti
Thousands of students are taking to the streets today demanding the abolition of the quarterly examinations. The struggle in schools to cover the syllabus combined with the fact that within 6 months the 3rd grade students are required to take three examinations (1st quarter, 2nd quarter and Pancyprian examinations) brings the reaction of the students' movement (PSEM).
In particular, as stated in Cyprus Times, the president of the PSEM, Grigoris Grigoriou, "the students of high schools and technical schools today by the thousands are marching from Athalassa Avenue to the Presidential Palace, demanding the immediate suspension of the exams every four months for all classes of high school and technical schools".
- The "hot potato" of quarterly exams and the silent perpetrators burning our schools
- Students take to the streets for quarterly exams. March to the Presidential Office[/url]
"Our priority", notes the president of the students' movement, "we have the third grade whose students will be called upon to confront the authoritarianism of the Ministry of Education, by taking 3 exams in 5-6 months, losing precious teaching time, just to implement the institution".
While pointing out that because of this situation, high school students are at a dead end and cannot cope.
Common position of students, teachers and parents for the 3rd grade
From then on, parents and middle school teachers, through their announcements, supported the right of students to hold a mobilization in order to express their demands, however, both the OELMEK and the Confederation of Parents have taken the position of suspending the examinations every four months for the third grade of high school / Technical Schools, only for the current school year, in order to give the necessary time for dialogue with all stakeholders, in order to find the best way of assessment.
Speaking to the Cyprus Times o presidentof the Confederation of Middle School Parents, Haralambos Dionysiou, explained that the new Board of Directors at a meeting last week, restated the position they had taken since last September, to suspend the implementation of the institution for 3rd grade/technical schools for this school year only."
"We have seen," Dionysiou continued, "that what we predicted in September - when we listened to the World Health Organization and the epidemiologists - has come true... we have an outbreak of the pandemic. This is inferred by the fact that we have an increase in cases and close contacts in schools. Students who stay at home are not being given a hybrid education - as they should be - and are receiving an asynchronous education. It is not possible to send messages of parents from schools, to go and get leaflets for senior students, to prepare for quarter exams and with this grade to claim a place abroad (in a university)."
"Not to mention the inequality in relation to other classmates who are preparing in school both for Pancyprian and quarter exams", Mr. As for the protest march that the students will hold this morning, the president of the Organized Parents of Secondary Education said that their stance is clear and pointed out that they
recognize that the PESM is the statutory organization of studentsand support their right to protest on various issues that concern them. "The common demand of all three organisations (PESM, OELMEK and the Parents' Confederation) since the summer is the suspension of the implementation of the institution of quarterly examinations for the third grade only for this year," he added.Asked to comment in turn on the
OELMEK'sposition on the examinations every four months, the General Secretary of the educational organisation, Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos, recalled that a few years ago OELMEK had held a referendum on this issue and its members opposed the implementation of the institution of examinations every four months."However," he explained, "we now have some different facts. The institution has now been implemented and introduced in the third grade. This year our common position is the
suspension of the institution for the third grade and for the other gradeswe continue to see the problems." He clarified that "there has not been a radical change in our position, but now that we have entered the third grade, we asked for a suspension because it is very difficult to implement three exams and it is evident in the course of this school year."
"We focused there for this year, because it is something that is of particular concern this year and it is also a common position with the parents."
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