About 7,18% of the teachers were absent from their schools today and from the high schools and lyceums, a total of 18,40% of the students, said the President of OELMEK, Costas Hadjisavvas, in his statements to KYPE.
Asked how the reopening of the schools took place after the Christmas holidays, Mr. Hadjisavvas said that It was a difficult day since it was also the first day the schools reopened and taking into account the fact that the cases were increased many times more than the cases that existed before the Christmas holidays.
"It seems that after communication we had with the Gymnasiums and Lyceums and they answered various questions that about 7,18% of the teachers were absent from their schools today, who were either cases, or close contacts, or were responsible the custody of their children under the age of 15 ", he added.
Note that "The biggest problem for us and for which we warned in the previous period of time was that in any case, from the moment it was decided to reopen the schools, they should definitely operate in the best possible way in matters of safety-health, but also in matters of education. procedure ".
"It is for this reason that we insisted that the Ministry of Education, in consultation with the Education Service Committee, should take every action to appoint replacement teachers from today, Monday," he said. It seems from the facts, however, he added, "that while about 7,22% were absent, substitutes were sent to schools less than 30%, that is, only 1/3 of the teachers who were absent were covered in need".
The President of OELMEK stated, in addition, that they understand the serious difficulties that the management of each school has to face, so that the school units can function.
"The Organization asked us from the Ministry of Education to give incentives to the substitute teachers, so that they can accept or apply for appointment by substitution, we asked them to be appointed full-time, so that these substitute teachers, in addition to their teaching "to take on some other tasks related to health measures, exactly as required by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education," he said. "Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education did not respond to this request", he added.
As he mentioned, "We hope, at least, tomorrow, Tuesday, to fill these gaps that were presented today with the appointment of substitute teachers, so that they can implement the educational process and teach and play their role as teachers in the best way."
The teachers, continued Mr. Hadjisavvas, and in the previous period before the Christmas holidays, but also from today, Monday, they are really carrying on a lot of extracurricular tasks, related to the sanitary measures, "And it is for this reason that we asked the Ministry of Education for its practical support and not just any support, be it theoretical or verbal."
"On this issue, in addition to the request for full appointments of replacements, we have also requested that those Assistant Directors, who are responsible for the tracking process, be relieved of part of their teaching duties.". Explained that this process "It is both time consuming and very arduous and it is necessary for this head of the school or the heads of the school to run constantly not only during the school year, but also in the afternoons and on the weekends, in order to get in touch with the students. who are close contacts, to inform them about what they will do ".
"Unfortunately, even at this point the Ministry of Education did not respond and we really wonder what is the practical support of the Ministry of Education to the directorates and the teaching staff", he added.
As he mentioned, in any case the fellow teachers will be in their schools and will do their duty in the best possible way.
Asked if they have an indication of how many students were absent from their schools today, Mr. Hadjisavvas said that he was absent from high schools and lyceums, a total of 18,40% of students.
"The percentage of students who were absent from high schools and technical schools was much higher than in high schools. "And it seems that some students, in addition to the fact that they were either cases or close contacts, may have stayed at home to protect themselves from getting sick in view of the fact that the examination process will start next Friday.", he added.
Asked what will happen to the exams for students who are either ill or have close contacts, Mr. Hadjisavvas said that the exams actually start on January 14 and end on January 28, adding that there is definitely an issue for students who may either be cases or close contacts.
Consequently, the President of OELMEK continued, based on what the Minister of Education himself has stated, there will be a second and third series, as he stated.
"We are requesting a meeting with the Minister of Education to clarify exactly several issues related to the examination process and we expect this meeting to take place as soon as possible." he said. Really, he added, "We wonder how it is possible in the midst of such difficulties, in the midst of this pandemic, even though it has been several days since we requested a meeting, yet the Minister of Education has not invited us to ask our questions, but also some suggestions regarding the process of examinations ". He mentioned that "We had initially submitted some suggestions several months ago, but we still want to discuss various issues related to the written essays, I say for example for the exams whether they concern the AY Lyceum or the BD or the DG Lyceum ».
Mr. Hadjisavvas noted that the position of OELMEK is "Clearly in favor of the educational process with the physical presence of both students and teachers, because in no case can any modern technological measure replace the educational process in the classrooms."
"This, however, is certainly provided that there is health security for students, teaching staff and others employed within the school premises and public health in general. And we ask for the practical support of the Ministry of Education and not just this support to be verbal ", concluded.
Reopening of Gymnasiums / Lyceums - Announcement of OELMEK
Meanwhile, in its announcement, OELMEK states that based on the data collected today by OELMEK from almost all the Gymnasiums and Lyceums of Cyprus, on the first day of reopening of the Secondary Schools after the Christmas holidays, the following data were recorded: 7,18% of the Teachers / three were absent as cases / contacts or for the care of minor children under 15 who are cases / contacts and 18,40% of the students / three were absent.
He notes that only 29,13% of the absent Professors / three were replaced by other colleagues.
"The above data confirm the concerns we expressed in our announcement on January 7, 2022, that the Schools and the teaching staff will face significant problems and difficulties due to the dramatic increase of cases in the last period", he adds.
Despite the difficulties, he notes, "The school administrations and teaching staff responded, as they do throughout this period of the pandemic, with absolute adequacy to the difficult situation, making enormous efforts so that the educational process takes place with the physical presence of students and teachers. with safety and health ".
OELMEK states, finally, that we will continue to monitor the condition and operation of schools, intervening in any way required by developments.