Reform in our education system has been a goal for every government for at least the last ten years. Nevertheless, the Minister of Education, Mr. Costas Kadis, seems to have made the important decision to start the reform of the education system, through the abolition of the unified high school and the restoration of the multidisciplinary system, through the increase of teaching time, but and the increase of the teaching time of the main courses, and through the abolition of the Pancyprian exams.
Nevertheless, an educational reform that takes place without the input of those directly affected, that is, the students, seems to involve many risks of failure.
With all this in mind, a student from Sotira, Andri Ttigou, a first grade student of the Lyceum of Kokkinochorion Fotis Pitta, wanted to send a letter to the Minister of Education, Mr. Costas Kadis, setting out his concerns and original proposals for reform of the educational system of our country, such as digitization of books and courses and use of tablets for a more interactive lesson, something that will make the lessons more fun and interesting for the students.
The important thing is that a few days later, there was a response from the Minister of Education himself, who congratulated the student for her great proposals, while listing the ways in which the educational reform in Cyprus will be achieved.
The student, Andri Ttigou, thanked the Minister for his interest and sent him another letter, with wishes for a proper educational reform, which will focus on the institutions of education.
Read the full correspondence below:
Letter from student Andris Ttigou to the Minister of Education (March 17, 2015)
To: Minister of Education and Culture, Mr. Costas Kadis
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Honorable Minister,
I am sending you this letter as the most competent person, to submit my views on an issue that concerns not only me, but also our parents and teachers. Sharing the speech of the Rector of the University of Cyprus, Professor Konstantinos Christofidis, which he delivered at the City Hall of our village, on the occasion of the Feast of Letters on January 30, 2015, and on the problems in our educational system, I decided to take the first step no student would dare, that is, to send you a letter with suggestions for educational reform.
Many consider education to be trivial, without making any effort to modernize it. However, the education system judges my future, but also the future of all generations of our country. It is necessary, I believe, in our time, when a student completes his studies in Secondary Education, to have the appropriate equipment to be able to cope with the difficult and demanding studies of Higher Education.
According to what I said above, knowledge and learning is one of the most vital resources in man, since with them, the entire personal and professional future is determined. The system that prevails in our schools, devotes disproportionate time to courses that are part of the final exams and to courses of "secondary". It is undoubtedly acceptable that there are no "secondary" subjects in our schools, but the requirements of our educational system are such that they force us to need more hours and tutoring to cover the necessary time and the great material. It is, therefore, understandable that a student's interest and learning skills cannot meet our demanding lessons, which are nevertheless taught only once a week. An example that proves the truth of the matter, are the teaching hours of the courses of Biology and Chemistry, which despite being exam courses, we teach only once a week! The opposite happens, with unexamined courses, such as Ancient, English or even French, which we teach two or even three hours a week.
Dear Minister,
We fully understand that our educational system is oriented towards a human-centered education, which imparts multifaceted knowledge to students and not to a technocratic school that simply prepares high school students for admission to a University. In this light, all courses are considered necessary, but unfortunately our educational system today, the consolidation of the feeling of graduation in students, as well as the psychedelic final and pan-Cypriot exams, which are considered the only opportunity to obtain a coveted position in a University, they force us students to resort to tutoring to cover the few hours we teach the main courses, or on the other hand to choose "easy" courses, which raise our grades.
Knowing your lively interest and action so far in the field of education, we submit to you our suggestions and suggestions for solving the problems we experience every day. A necessary action to be taken by the Ministry is to increase the hours of the examined courses on the occasion of the increase of the school time, a measure that you have announced, as well as the utilization of all the school hours for the benefit of our examined courses. Another suggestion is to modernize our education system in a way that will enrich our knowledge, but will also make us more interested, such as the digitization of textbooks through applications for smartphones and tablets. These are, Mr. Minister, just some of the measures we are proposing that would work for the benefit of our education system and the students themselves.
Being fully aware of the difficulties of the above suggestions, we feel confident that you will act immediately and decisively in order to chart a better course for shaping our future, through education. We are also confident that you will stand by the students, as a worthy supporter in the difficult and demanding years of our school life. We must, Minister, keep in mind the saying that says that we did not inherit this world from our ancestors, but borrowed it from our children!
We look forward to your prompt and positive response.
Yours sincerely,
High school student
Andri Ttigou
(Notification: Lyceum of Kokkinochorion Foti Pitta)
Letter from the Minister of Education and Culture, Mr. Costas Kadis to student Andri Ttigou (April 8, 2015)
Dear Man,
I refer to your letter, dated March 17, 2015, in which you express your concern about the problems of our educational system and make some suggestions for its improvement.
I agree with most of your remarks. In addition, there are other problems in recent years, leading to low learning outcomes and failures in exams, while recently there have been problems in the recognition of our school diploma by Universities abroad. For all these reasons we started a coordinated effort to reshape both the Clock Secondary Education Program, to which you mainly refer, as well
of our entire education system.
According to what is planned to be done, a Clock is formed
A program that aims to ensure the balanced cognitive training and psycho-emotional development of our children. In the Lyceum the free course choices are terminated and created
Directions with four related courses. Thus, students will choose their inclinations and interests based on criteria, and not based on convenience or grading, they will acquire enough specialization in the field they are interested in, and they will be better prepared for their studies.
Also, some specialization will start from A high school. Finally, the system of promotion and graduation exams is changing, as well as the system of access to the University.
I am confident that, with the completion of our reform efforts, our education system will change radically, and so will the students.
will make us more ready to conquer the future they dream of and deserve.
I congratulate you for your remarks and concerns, which prove that you have maturity and abilities. I wish you a good continuation of your studies and every success in your life.
Costas Kadis
Minister of Education and Culture
Letter from student Andris Ttigou to the Minister of Education and Culture (April 17, 2015)
Honorable Minister,
I would like to refer to your letter dated April 8, 2015, in which you answered my concerns about our education system.
On this occasion I would like to thank you for your prompt and positive response to my concerns. Your answers were informative about the problem I raised and I am confident, based on your work so far, that you will meet the massive demands of our education system reform.
Nevertheless, I would like to ask you to take seriously my suggestions, as they concern ways of upgrading, reforming and renewing our educational system, by a student who experiences the education system up close. I am absolutely convinced that the reform of our education must come from those who are directly concerned, that is, the students, and that the political-party conflicts and the obsessions of educational organizations and parties must be put aside. Also, we must not focus only on the field of education but on the complete upgrading of our general Education, through the institutions of Culture, the family, the church, the Media and all others that contribute to the formation of a human-centered education.
Thank you very much for your interest in my views, which shows that you take seriously the students' concerns about the difficult task you have to deal with.
We wish you every success in your work.
Yours sincerely,
High school student
Andri Ttigou