The Pancyprian Confederation of Parents' Associations, after the first meeting of its new Board of Directors, re-evaluating the situation, asks that, for this year only, the four-month exams for the XNUMXrd grade of Lyceums and Technical Schools be suspended and the Pancyprian Examinations and last year.
In their announcement, the organized parents state that this arrangement will give time and breath to both the senior students and the teachers to focus on the essential consolidation and preparation for a good diploma and a good grade in the Pancyprian Examinations.
"With today's data, exams are no longer an end in themselves, but the quality of our children's education. The pandemic is currently on the rise, the appearance of the O mutation, cases and contacts are increasing day by day and the education of students is put to the test again with a large number of children being self-limiting and being taught asynchronously or synchronously at a distance. education and in many cases not with the hybrid ", it is added.
The inequality created between students due to distance learning, it is noted, particularly affects seniors who are not just competing for a bachelor's degree, but also for a degree that will provide them with access to universities abroad and give them the supplies to claim a place. in the public universities of Cyprus and Greece, thus opening their way to the future.
"In any case, the legislation of the four months was not implemented in the majority correctly for the 60% of the oral evaluation. Testimony, the many competitions and the non-existent projects. "If the four-month legislation had to be implemented, it should be implemented in its entirety and not selectively."
We ask the Competent Authority, the organized parents note, to reflect on the stress and pressure that this year's seniors are experiencing, since in addition to this year's learning challenges, they also have to manage the stress and uncertainty caused to them by the previous two years. received much of their education through a screen.
"The material has not yet been adapted to the useful teaching time and so a lot of pressure is exerted to cover the material in tight schedules. All this, together with the learning deficiencies of previous years, aggravates the stress and emotional instability of high school students. "There is also an inequality in the level of education among high school students this year due to the fact that a portion of them are self-limiting every day and receive the largest percentage of asynchronous education, with material their parents receive from school, a recent example being a school in Limassol."
Therefore, according to the organized parents, we call on the Ministry of Education to take all the necessary actions and to suspend the four-month exams for the third grade of Lyceums and Technical Schools only for this year.
They also invite the Ministry to hand over the evaluation report of the four-month institution prepared by the Ministry. At the same time, they call on the House of Representatives to consider its own responsibilities for the distortions in the legislation as well as the consequences of its implementation this year for the high school students, given the admission of the wrong triple examination and their victimization.
"In this direction, we explicitly reiterate our readiness for an immediate start of dialogue for the correct implementation of the legislation for the four months, in order to resolve the issue definitively, as well as for the immediate finding of the correct and objective way of assessing third grade students. "Lyceums and Technical Schools through the institution of four months, but also the best way of conducting the Pancyprian Access Examinations", it is pointed out.
Regarding the announcement of the institutionalized student organization, PSEM, for a protest on December 21 for the four-month exams, the organized parents state that "we respect and support the right of our children to protest on issues that concern them and especially the public. our request to suspend the implementation of the four months for this year and only for the DG Class of Lyceums and Technical Schools ".