By Michalis Soulis
Education in our country is facing significant and timeless problems with the result that we are in 2021 and we can not yet offer as a state, a remarkable educational system to our young people and our children.
The issue of education is perhaps the most important issue in a democratic country since only through education can there be progress in the social pyramid. Education is the most valuable resource but also the greatest spiritual asset that we must give to the new generation.
The main goal of the education system should be to prepare children primarily for life for this and we must all work for this purpose.
Unfortunately, all these years the education system of Cyprus is anything but stable, since there are meaningless accents instead of substance and it changes whenever we have a new government or a new minister. In order for there to be improvements in the education of the place, the views of those involved in the educational process should be taken into account, and not external consultants. In this way, many small and inexpensive aspects of the educational process will be improved, such as the content and the teaching approaches, strengthening the relationship between education and labor market needs and practical solutions in everyday life. It is equally important to provide equal opportunities for education for all.
My suggestions for modernizing education
There are many things that need to be changed immediately in order to see results. School should start at 8:30 and students should go to school at 15:00 so that the state can give flexibility to working parents and there must be care for children at noon.
For example, emphasis could be placed on cultivating the ability of children to study on their own and to be able to correct their resident work. In this way children become more worthy, more responsible and their self-confidence is enhanced. At the same time, parents are relieved of the stress of homework, who often guide their children in the wrong ways. These changes should promote the mental health of children by having daily free time to play in order to be able to discover their personality and skills through extracurricular activities.
The school must cover the pedagogical issues and provide all the necessary knowledge so that the children do not need tutoring. Students who have gaps are given the opportunity to fill them for free with the help of their teacher, after the end of the course. Only then will there be sufficient but also free education for all ages.
Also, the education system should not cultivate competition and grading and for this reason competitions should be reduced as much as possible in order to promote team spirit. Emphasis should be placed on cultivating a variety of skills including teamwork and collaboration. The aim should be training rather than examination.
As a European country, Cyprus must invest in new, modern energy-upgraded buildings that are friendly to learning but also to students with disabilities. It is inconceivable for some children to be excluded from lessons and / or school performances because there is no access to rooms and / or scenes respectively. No one should feel unnecessary in our education system. No one should feel isolated. All our students should be equal and feel equal by providing them with all the spiritual tools they need.
The vocational guidance and the contact of the children with the various professions, as a consequence of the further modernization of the school orientation, must start from the XNUMXst Gymnasium. The most important reform in the field of vocational training will be the transfer of the main teaching spaces from the educational institutions, to the workplaces of the future graduates, with the cooperation of course also of the private companies.
As for the teachers themselves, the new evaluation system should finally be implemented for a fair and correct evaluation.
Only in this way will we take steps forward as a society and as a state.
Michalis Soulis is a Member of Parliament for Famagusta with the Generation Change Party.
Brief CV
He was born in Larnaca in 1988 and lives in Xylotymvou. He comes from the occupied Achna and the occupied Vitsada of the Province of Famagusta, birthplaces of his father and mother respectively. He is married and has a son.
He is a graduate of the American Academy in Larnaca and during his military service he served as a Probationary Reserve Officer. I have studied Civil Engineering with honors and I have done a postgraduate course in Construction Project Management in Great Britain with a scholarship. I have also studied welding engineering (IWE-EWE) in Greece.
Today I work as a Technical Director in a private construction company, and I was also a professor at UCLan University teaching welding theory. I am a member of the Institute of Civil Engineering of England (ICE), ETEK and the Hellenic Institute of Welding