Pr. Prodromou:Now is the time to systematically integrate in schools digital technology programmes and innovations that have been developed in the last two years.
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Mr Prodromos Prodromou, attended today an event organised by the Ministry of Education, at the Royal Hall, on the theme: "Digital Technology in Schools", which aimed to highlight the quality work done in public schools regarding the pedagogical use/application of new and modern technologies in the classroom.
In the context of the event, the Minister in his statements to journalists said: "With the unprecedented, unexpected and so difficult experience of the pandemic, we were all faced with enormous challenges."
"This challenge and difficulty," he added, "became an opportunity for the public school. The possibility of using modern technology in education was conquered in a very short period of time. What has been done in the past two years, now it is time to systematize, integrate and embed it in the everyday life of the school."
"I am glad", Mr. Prodromou "because in today's presentation on digital technology in education we had the opportunity to show the work done at the Pedagogical Institute first of all, where a Digitally Supported Pedagogical Environment has been developed, but also in a number of schools, in primary and secondary schools."
He noted that "three primary schools (Kampos, Tamasou (Regional) and Anageia) presented today innovations that they are already implementing in their curriculum. They presented the very interesting achievements of the children in the Full Day High School Pilot Program of the Pancyprian High School, which is at the same time a program with a STEAM strand (Science (S), Technology (T), Engineering (E), Arts (A) and Mathematics (M)), and a strand related to Greek Language and Culture".
"What has been planned at the Pedagogical Institute," the Minister of Education pointed out, "it is high time that it is now passed, in a structured way, to all schools. Today we had the opportunity to be shown by the children themselves the application of robotics packages in education, augmented and virtual reality systems, interactive projectors, 3D printing; what we saw was truly remarkable."
"It is touching", Mr Prodromou added, "that the Campos Primary School, a small primary school with five children, in a geographically isolated area, can nevertheless be at the forefront and make use of digital technology".
"What we saw in the presentation that took place," the Minister of Education concluded, "we will make sure that it will now systematically go to the schools, be integrated into the programmes to establish this step forward that the public school is taking, but also to be ready to take advantage of the transformation of all classrooms into digital classrooms which, as we know, is now starting - we are in the bidding process and will soon have the contractor - to create 6.600 digital classrooms."
Responding to a reporter's comment that today's presentation was a sample of what will happen in the future and not of what is happening in schools now, Prodromou said: "It is a sample of applications that have been developed. Several of these applications developed by staff at the Pedagogical Institute, in cooperation with schools, are also part of European Programmes. We are moving forward on solid ground, European Programmes are already being used, but now we need to propose to schools specific use of applications in a specific pedagogical context and to reach all schools. There are many schools that are already implementing these applications. The little robot, which has also made a particular impression, has already been toured in several schools. The thing now is to systematize some things and I am glad because the pilot implementation of the first year of the all-day high school in Pancyprium was successful. Next year we will aim to have two all-day schools. There, in additional time, not exactly with teaching content but as an "offer" to the children of the opportunity to develop skills/abilities, we are developing both Greek Language and Culture but also Science, Technology and Digital Applications. If this attempt succeeds, in a few years we can have more Full Day High Schools. With the prospect of possibly generalizing to all High Schools. As far as Primary Education is concerned, there is also room for the very successful applications that we have seen from three primary schools and that exist in others to be generalised to all schools."
IP
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