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The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Mrs Athina Michaelidou, had a meeting today at the Ministry with the winners of the Pancyprian Examinations.
After the meeting, the Minister said in her statements to journalists: "I had the pleasure today to have here, at the Ministry, most of our seniors who have been first in this year's Pancyprian Examinations, in all the fields in which they had excelled.
It was an extremely important meeting for us, very pleasant, because the children are happy about their success and we are proud of them. Through the conversation with them, they also gave us samples of their maturity. In particular, we discussed two issues: what helped them get to this point, i.e. which features of our educational system were the ones that supported them and, on the other hand, which were the ones that made it difficult for them. We also asked for suggestions for improvement.
The children really focused on what we are looking for in all the areas that we are now struggling with and trying to change in order to have a more student-centred education system.
In particular, they raised the issue of a more human approach from their teachers, and supported and praised those and those teachers who were close to them throughout their preparation, at the school. They and the teachers who not only stood by the curriculum, but had the time and kindness to be close to them and the various other issues they faced.
The children themselves stressed how much the extracurricular activities, i.e. the various research and European projects in which a school participates, have helped them, and this is very important that we heard from the children themselves, as well as how much their friends and family have supported them, of course.
On the other hand, they gave us a series of suggestions for our educational system, so that it becomes less material-centred and more student-centred, to emphasise Counselling and Vocational Education and so we were able to tell them that through the Governance Programme itself we are indeed working on these parameters.
What particularly pleased us is, as I said, the mature thinking of the students and the very specific suggestions they had.
I am sure that these children will excel in the future in whatever they decide to do," the Education Minister concluded.
Asked about how the results of this year's Pancyprian Examinations were assessed, given that the average in Modern Greek was slightly above the baseline, Michailidou said: "Every year we have these results. We hope that with the new Evaluation System, but also in the longer term, with the changes we are seeking in our educational system, we will have improved performance.
What matters for us is not the final written exam, as I said, to evaluate the system, but the whole year. We value the system in many different ways.
You heard from the children themselves how they value the system, how human, how close their teachers are to them, about how the syllabus should be focused and not so much, to leave them room to learn at their own pace and bring the best results. So all of these things together make up the effort we are making to modernise our education system and improve outcomes."
IP
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