The Minister of Education has announced the submission, extraordinary and in the form of the urgent bill on quarterly examinations, which is expected to be placed before the Parliamentary Committee on Education for debate next Wednesday.[/B]
AKEL MP Christos Christofides, in a statement in Parliament after the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture, said that the institution of four-month exams has failed, while DIKO and DIPA support the institution of four-month exams, but state that corrections should be made to the institution.
AKEL MP Christos Christofides, in his statements, said that once again this bill is not the product of a dialogue between the educational partners: teachers, parents and students.
"This is yet another arbitrary, unilateral action by the Minister of Education, which has already complicated things and is creating strong reactions which, in our view, could have been avoided if the Ministry of Education had been more planned and not once again left to the last, literally, minute and if the Ministry of Education had acted democratically and synthetically and held the required dialogue with the educational partners," he added.
The second thing, Christofides continued, "which I want to make clear is that the failed institution of four-month exams cannot be fixed with fudges."
"It is like trying to cure cancer with painkillers. We have to be bold and make serious and radical decisions. It is an institution that has failed, everyone says so, teachers, students, parents, it has exploded over-education, it has created enormous stress for the vast majority of students and it has turned schools into examination centres. And this will be our position and position," he added.
He called once again on the other parties to consider the size of the responsibility,[/B] to finally listen to teachers, parents and students and not to stick to the position that we once got ahead and took a position and we have to maintain that position.
"There is evolution, the facts are booming, the data is in front of us, we need to find other approaches beyond quarterly exams. In conclusion, I want to say that especially the system that has been imposed in the third grade of high school with the three life-defining exams for children in five months is a really exhausting and totally unacceptable system."
Responding to a question, Mr. Christofides said that "we believe that there should be a dialogue with educational partners to find an assessment system based on modern needs, such as the integration of projects in schools, collaborative learning, the interdisciplinary approach, i.e. the marriage of different subjects."
"There should also be the necessary flexibility of the teacher within the classroom and we should leave this system of continuous exams plus tests plus everything else that students have," he added.
DIKO MP and deputy chairman of the Parliament's Education Committee, Chrysanthos Savvidis, said in a statement that "we as a party are in favour of four-month exams".
"Of course, however, several corrections will have to be made. We are waiting for the bill of the Ministry of Education, to see it, to study it and after studying it we will have an official position which we will consult with the other members of the parliamentary group. We are not talking about complete abolition, but about correction. For example, we have said that the curriculum should be proportional to the teaching time. I don't see that happening. We want to see the bill so that we can take a position," he added.
In a statement, DPA-Cooperation MP Alekos Tryfonidis said that "we support the institution of four months but we have submitted several proposals to the Minister, both in meetings with him and in previous meetings in the Education Committee, which correct and modernize the institution of four months and resolve several problems that arose during the implementation of the institution."
"We are awaiting the submission of the bill by the Ministry of Education and it will receive the appropriate scrutiny to give all this facility to both students and teachers, modernizing the institution but at the same time promoting quality and excellence in our education," he added.
Asked what their recommendations revolve around, Mr. Tryfonidis said they also revolve around the curriculum and times and how many exams should be taken.
He noted that one of their recommendations is a test and examination.
"Not to leave it up to each individual teacher how many tests to take, from 1 to 5," he concluded.
Source: CNA
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