AKEL on the crisis in Education

Statement by the AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou,

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 26 August 2018, Nicosia

The crisis in Education was provoked by the Anastasiades – DISY government. It has provoked this crisis as a result of its antisocial policies, but also because of its arrogance and authoritarianism with which it exercises its power.

The government provoked the crisis through its unilateral decisions and refusal to engage in an institutionalized dialogue with the educational organizations.

The government fueled the crisis by denigrating and vilifying teachers, their role and contribution to education and by attempting to turn society against them.

The government is perpetuating the crisis by trying to impose its unilateral decisions, by either buying off teachers or threatening them.

For the Anastasiades government, “streamlining/rationalization” means cuts in the sensitive area of Education too. And while the government is imposing cuts in Education, it gave seven billion Euros to deliver the Co-Op Bank to a private bank which it has even guaranteed to cover the losses it is likely to suffer.

The government at the same time as it is imposing cuts in Education is renegotiating the contract of the “Aphrodite” gas field (in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus), with the danger that the Republic of Cyprus will lose incomes of up to two billion Euros.

It is now clear to the public that the Anastasiades – DISY government is not interested in the quality of the public education system as it doesn’t care about the quality of the public health system and the people’s standard of living.

What the government is interested in is how to portray false images about the economy by simply correcting some numbers and shifting the cost of this “correction” on society while serving the interests of the privileged and select few.