A pedagogical crime has been committed against thousands of pupils

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

21 February 2022

A pedagogical crime has been committed against thousands of pupils and their parents. Who is to blame for this pedagogical crime is quite clear: the Minister of Education and the leadership of the ruling DISY party. The unbelievable dogmatism demonstrated in persisting on this unacceptable policy of examinations every four months and, in particular, imposing it in the third grade of High schools in these incredibly difficult conditions that have prevailed in recent years, while parents, pupils, teachers and all the other parties have been telling the government ruling forces not to proceed, is the root cause of this pedagogical crime.

Right now, thousands of pupils and their parents, especially in the third grade, are seeing their dreams being shattered. These grades, which will appear on our pupils school-leaving certificates, will allow or deny them entry to many European universities. And while we have known for several years that the presence of Cypriot students in all European universities is quite successful and that most of our students excel in European universities, at this precise moment the Anastasiades-DISY government is seeking to put a black stamp on their school-leaving certificate and basically deny them the path to their studies.

We must be honest and tell things as they really are. An additional factor is to blame. Their unacceptable philosophy in transferring the neoliberal approach of constantly measuring results as if we consider schools to be a factory and that they are going to measure productivity, has undermined the learning process, damaged the democratic and humanistic role of school and turned our children into machines in schools, who are all day running around taking private lessons, studying for exams, memorising skills to write and get a grade.

All of these policies reflect the pedagogical crime committed by the government, the Minister of Education and the DISY leadership against thousands of pupils and their parents.

Finally, I should note that today the Minister of Education left no room whatsoever for any corrective action to be taken, either for an estimation or a reduction of the percentage that the four-month exams will assume in the final grade. In fact, some headmasters have deliberately rushed to give school reports so that any correction in the results wouldn’t be possible. All this adds to the tragic picture outlined today by parents, students and teachers before the House Education Committee.