New suitcase, new clothes, new life, with all the stress of the last period being concentrated on the ringing of a bell, the first bell for the first grade students of the Primary School. When did they grow up so much! "To go to school, to become human," said the elders. To learn letters, to socialize, to learn to get in touch with other children, to learn to respect each other, its peculiarities, its choices.
Today they are taking the first step and together with the children the education will be judged, the state and the society itself, the parents, all of us. The roads will be filled with thousands of cars, in some areas the inseparable will be created, suffering, new stress, nerves, but for the promising best tomorrow, all this is worth it.
Today is the first day of the new school year for students of primary, pre-primary and special schools. More specifically, students of primary, pre-primary and special schools will show up at their schools at 07:45, to be distributed in classes / departments or groups, respectively, to get their books and start their classes normally, while stay in school until 13:05.
According to the Ministry of Education, 331 primary schools will operate during the new school year, the same as during the last school year 2018-2019, in which 52.479 students will attend, 731 more than the students of 2018-2019 .
Also, there will be 2.749 departments 14 more than the departments that operated in 2018-2019.
In addition, the needs for teaching staff are estimated to reach 4494 (4258 permanent and 236 part-time) primary school teachers, of which 3 will work in the primary school of Rizokarpaso.
Regarding the public kindergartens, with the two new kindergartens (Agios Ioannis Nicosia and Limassol Mesa Geitonia KTHS-GN Kalogeropoulos) and the suspension of the kindergarten in Pomos, in 2019-2020 there will be 273 public kindergartens, which will be attended by 11.630 students compared to 11.892 who attended the previous school year.
The Ministry of Education points out in a recent announcement that an increase in the number of students is expected, due to the non-completion of the process of filling the vacancies.
In relation to special education, the Ministry of Education announced that in the new school year 2019-2020 there will be nine (9) Special Schools and one hundred and thirteen (113) Special Units in primary schools and public kindergartens. The teaching staff of special education is expected to increase to nine hundred and nine hundred three (903) teachers (522 permanent and 381 part-time).
Regarding the All-Day Schools, the ministry announced that the institution of the Optional All-Day School (POS) will continue to be implemented on a five-day basis, in 57 kindergartens, 130 primary schools and 7 special schools, as last year.
The P.O.S. are open until 4:00 pm, while children can choose their departure time on a permanent basis for all five days (3:05 pm or 4:00 pm).
Teacher reactions
The Progressive Movement of Teachers and Kindergarten Teachers calls on the Board of Directors of POED to immediately consider the issue of staffing and to take immediate and dynamic measures, exerting maximum pressure on the Ministry of Education to restore all hours, which as it states, "the government with insidious and deceitful way he has cut off from the students ”.
In addition, the Independent Movement of Teachers and Teachers proceeded with a public submission of questions concerning the understaffing of public schools, the policy of support for the learning of the Greek language to foreign language students and the prevention and treatment of illiteracy, as well as the timetable.
Source: The Liberal