The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Mr Prodromos Prodromou, participated today in a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture, on the subject of the Committee's information on the types of private schools.
At the end of the session, Mr Prodromos Prodromou participated in a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture. "The issue that the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture is examining today has already been examined by the Ministry in a meeting held at the beginning of this week and a relevant announcement has been issued by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
This school is operating under a licence granted on the basis of the existing legislation. We will probably need to discuss some of the provisions of the legislation. However, the whole issue that some people are pointing out about private schools of a similar type would exist whether the assessment in schools is every four months or whether it was at the end of the year.
The legislation does not provide for what happens with assessment in schools of a similar type, so no obligation for assessment is established, and that is where this discussion that is taking place is focused.
But the school that is being talked about, which is operating this year for the first time with a very small number of students, is operating under the legislation. The Department of Education has been concerned about the issue that has been raised in relation to the promotion that has been done by the school and some of the issues that do exist. But issues that relate to announcements or advertising, not its operation. While the issue is being dealt with administratively at the Ministry of National Defence, we will have to wait and see how the issue is dealt with, if there is any issue.
There is no issue about the operation of the school, about the legislation and the institutional framework, there should, possibly, with the resumption of the work of the Parliament, be some discussion and elaboration of the institutional framework. In any case, there is a general reflection on what kind of private schools it is useful and desirable to have. We need to have this discussion again. At the moment three types of private schools are envisaged.
I would point out that schools of this type - which are not just one, but more than 20 and have been operating for years - are required by law to comply 2/3 of the time with the curriculum and timetable, without any reference to the evaluation process. Of course, I would say that it is an advantage of public schools that they have regular assessment of pupils. In other countries private schools advertise that they have assessment.
I take this opportunity to note that this year in the secondary schools in Cyprus, where the new Pupil Evaluation Plan is being implemented, we find that with the periodic assessment every four months we have for the first time more effective supervision and the certainty that there is a uniform pace of teaching, that all children in all schools in Cyprus are indeed acquiring to a satisfactory degree, through teaching, the knowledge and skills that we have to offer. Without the uniform assessment of termly assessments, not only was there not that certainty, but there were at times serious indications that there were significant variations and inequalities between schools. This is what we are finding this year for the first time before the January assessments are even done, that is that the pace of teaching in Cyprus' secondary schools has been brought into some order and there is certainty that we are offering all children teaching to the extent that is planned, without fluctuations or different approaches from place to place and this is a very important benefit," the Education Minister concluded.
Responding to a question regarding the reactions regarding four-month assessments, as well as to a comment that students of public schools are disadvantaged compared to students of private schools where there is no four-month assessment, Prodromou said: "I refer you to statements made by some children who came first in the 2022 Pancyprian Examinations, noting that the sectional examination per quarter had helped them to better organise their preparation to better follow the programme, which eventually led them to come first. These statements alone by graduates who got into universities are also given as responses to the impressions in some people that having assessment puts them at a disadvantage to some who are in a school without assessment, that is, with unclear teaching and its effectiveness."
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
