Pr. Prodromou: Summarizing proposals and suggestions made, through the dialogue, by members of the Education Committee of the Parliament, we present a proposal that, without changing the philosophy of evaluation, brings about limited changes. It is up to the Parliament to decide whether it wants these amendments.
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Mr Prodromos Prodromou, participated today in a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture, which discussed the amendment of Regulations concerning the operation of Public Secondary Education Schools.
At the end of the session, the Minister made statements to journalists, as follows: "A proposal by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth (MPSAN) to amend the evaluation procedure for students is currently before the Parliament's Committee on Education and Culture for consideration."
"This proposal," Prodromou pointed out, "incorporates suggestions made by MPs in the Parliament's Committee on Education. After the experience we have gained from the gradual implementation of the new Pupil Evaluation Process and after an extended dialogue which, as we know, has been developing throughout this period, we have come to adopt some suggestions made by MPs, which are now before the Committee."
"These are", the Minister of Education then noted, "limited changes that do not change the philosophy of the new assessment of pupils in the context of the educational reform, but they do bring about two positive changes. First, they lighten the load on the written assessment programme by limiting to a certain extent the subjects tested. Secondly, since there is a need, instead of being limited to the circulars that are always sent to schools for examinations, it is proposed in the Regulations, from now on, to have a clear quantitative limit, i.e. one written exercise per four-hour lesson."
"The Ministry," Mr Prodromou added, "considers that these changes may contribute to some operational improvement. In particular, he said, "there may be a better allocation between teaching time and written assessment. That is, we will need less time for written assessments."
"I should note, however," the Minister of Education then pointed out, "that whatever is to be decided, if anything is to be decided, it should be done now. Unfortunately, it is urgent. I thank the Chairman and members of the Commission for responding to this need. It is, of course, up to the Commission whether it decides to adopt the recommendations made by Members and accepted by the Ministry of Defence or whether it would prefer to continue as things stand. The Ministry is prepared for both possibilities. However, whether there will be any change should be decided now, so that students and teachers know about it from September, when schools open," he concluded.
IP
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