The results of the quarterly examinations are tragic

Statement by AKEL MP Christos Christofides after the meeting of the Parliamentary Education and Culture Committee

16 February 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Every day we receive a daily barrage of phone calls from parents of children expressing their strong dissatisfaction with the results of the four-month examinations.

I’d like to say that, of course, we aren’t surprised by the victimization of thousands of pupils. We had warned, not only about the inappropriateness of these examinations, but also about the fact that especially in the pandemic, with the gaps that have been created during this time, with the constant absences of pupils and teachers from schools, with the Education Ministry’s insistence and authoritarianism to impose exams every four months, when everyone else except the Minister and DISY disagreed, would lead to these tragic results.

There are children who will get very low grades in the quarters and they need their A-levels to get into European universities. They have essentially destroyed the dreams of these children and their parents.

The Parliamentary Education Committee will meet in an extraordinary session next Monday, in the presence of the Ministers of Education and Health, to discuss both the current situation in schools due to the pandemic, but also, of course, the huge issue of exams every four months and the tragic results that appear to have been recorded.