Statement by AKEL MP and Head of AKEL’s Education Policy Christos Christofides statements after the meeting of the Parliamentary Education and Culture Committee

 

7 March 2024

On the President’s numerous “pledges” on education

It is true that a number of policies have been implemented in the field of education, for which we have long been “fighting” on our own in some cases and asserting.

I would like to recall how many years we struggling against the government’s policy for quarterly exams, as we were alone for most of that time, as well as for the need to change this failed evaluation system. I would also like to recall how many years, for more than a decade, we clashed with the previous government – and with the Christodoulides government for a short time – over the issue transforming teachers from working people to the purchase of service status, and the need to turn them into salaried employees. This was indeed implemented, as was, of course, the extension of compulsory pre-primary education.

You realise that for things that we have proposed and fought for years, we have no reason to disagree about. Beyond that, of course, we also heard a lot of “pledges” yesterday, we heard a lot of announcements that are not specific to education issues.

We will wait and shall be constantly evaluating developments. Where we agree on education issues, we shall support measures. Where we disagree, we will say so clearly. Where our own policies are implemented, we shall express our pleasure, with only the best interests of education and our children in mind.

Public universities are affected by the absence of any strategic planning

We have described the University of Cyprus on several occasions to date as perhaps the most important investment of this state and society. We would like to express once again our satisfaction with the University’s progress, its international successes, its rise in international university rankings, and the education of thousands of young people in our country and many other benefits that result from the presence and operation of the University of Cyprus in our country.

Beyond that, there continue to be issues which continue to concern us as AKEL. A strategic plan for the development of public universities is still lacking. This lack of planning is already having an impact. The fact that the University of Cyprus has practically exhausted its own revenues is the result of the state’s failure to meet its needs, which in our view is precisely due to the absence of this strategic planning.

For this reason, it is urgent that what Mr Christodoulides announced at the beginning of the year, in the notorious “State of the Union” address, that in the first half of the year we will have a strategic plan for university education, is at long last implemented. But I wonder how it will be implemented when the universities – we are already in March – say they are unaware that any dialogue has taken place? The dialogue must be based on the planning of public universities.

There are other issues concerning the University of Cyprus and other public universities that are pending. There are also similar issues, attitudes and decisions which are affecting the University of Cyprus. We want, in order to protect it, to finally resolve these. We are putting these issues in the public debate, fulfilling our institutional and constitutional role of exercising effective scrutiny.

It’s up to the Ministry of Education to extending pre-primary education

We all agree that extending compulsory pre-primary education from the age of four is an important reform for the country. Besides, I would like to remind you that we, at least, have been struggling for many years for the realisation of this goal.

We have raised some issues at the last meeting of the Education Committee on the plan to be implemented by the Government.

Unfortunately, today the relevant Ministries, namely the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Welfare, were not in a position to commit to specific developments.

I want to say that we are fully prepared and it is now up to the Ministry of Education and the parties supporting the government on how to move forward as soon as possible so that we are ready to start in September with the registration of our children who will be entitled to attend compulsory pre-primary education.