Tension was created on Wednesday in the Education Committee of the Parliament during the discussion of the issue of school sports and the problems faced by the school units, when a representative of the Ministry of Education mentioned that last year "teachers in primary school did gymnastics to the children with heels". The intervention of the President and the Deputy President of the Commission was needed to calm the tone and continue the discussion.
The discussion of the specific issue has not been completed and will continue in subsequent sessions.
During the discussion of school sports before the Education Committee, the presence of people who left and continue to leave their mark on Cypriot sports stood out, that of Takis Mirallais, Palladios Nikolaos and Apostolos Parellis.
Speaking first before the Education Committee, Takis Mirallais, who left his mark on Cypriot basketball, said, among other things, that through his experiences, he gained various experiences and from 1974 until today he has been involved in sports and since 2000 as teacher in schools.
He also stated that he is saddened because with the passage of time, sports and the time available for it decrease, as a result of which we have the negative results that are observed.
He noted that there are programs and plans from the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and the CMO, to move forward, but he believes that we are going in the wrong way.
As he said, sports people are missing from the base of sports.
"We must find a way from infancy to High School, to have the opportunity of continuous sports and exercise which is the only way to improve individual performance. For primary school gymnasts, I tell you that there are real multi-talented teachers who can practice this profession, but I think that the area needs to be strengthened with people who are specialists," he added.
Palladios Nikolaou, who associated his name with Cypriot sports and especially classical sports, said that what is needed is a Deputy Ministry of Sports, properly staffed, that is, those who will take on the responsibilities of sports should be well qualified.
Acting Cypriot discus athlete, Apostolos Parellis, said that you have to win the kids over from Primary School and you have to win them over from video games.
"I think they should start working out from elementary school, because you have to love sports to continue. The games must start from the elementary school", he added.
Answering a question, Apostolos Parellis said that in high school he played volleyball and soccer and noted that his cousin was involved in discus throwing at the time and he watched him and liked it so he decided to try it, he went to the field and since then discus throwing entered his life .
The President of the Pancypriot Confederation of Federations of Associations of Parents of Elementary Schools, Frixos Zebylas, speaking to the Committee, said that there is a need for more sports within the school units.
The President of the All-Cypriot Confederation of Federations of Associations of Parents of Public Secondary Schools, Loizos Constantinou, in his own statement said that the facilities, especially the open spaces, range from unacceptable to inappropriate for the most part.
There are schools, he continued, that still haven't been cleared of lamprey debris and have dangerous items in them, schools that are full of weeds.
"In High School he had two gymnasts who held hoes and cleaned so they could get the students out. This is the work of the School Board. It takes investment, money and vision. Sports schools are hosted in schools," he noted.
As he said, "if we want to invest in sports, there must be six-class schools".
"A school in every province, let us know that it is our sports school, let the students who go there know that they are athletes, let the teachers who are there know that they are dealing with athletes and students and also the state to invest a school specifically in terms of the infrastructure needed to have a sports school," he added.
The President of OLTEK, Panagiotis Lysandrou, speaking to the Committee, said that the aim is to engage as many children as possible in sports, which in itself can change their lives.
The President of OELMEK, Dimitris Taliadoros, said that we built sports schools without preparing the appropriate sports infrastructure.
The President of POED, Myria Vassiliou, said that it is very important that they look at the issue of infrastructure, adding that the number of approximately 200 teachers, who deal exclusively with the specific subject, precisely because they love it and because they want to deal with the specific subject, although people have graduated as teachers, they are people who have received special training, there are teachers with masters degrees and doctorates in physical education.
"The human resources are there, the point is that there continues to be an effort on behalf of the Ministry of Education in matters of professional development", he added.
The Inspector of Primary Education, Georgios Giallouridis, said that the philosophy of the physical education course has changed, the pedagogical approach of the course has changed, it became a course, it was not a course, it has a syllabus, it has goals, it has a vision.
"And what is the vision? For all children to enjoy moments of success through sports activities," he said and referred to the Ministry's actions for the physical education class.
Theoti Pourou, Inspector of Physical Education, said that "we can't have anyone who does a master's degree for a year and a half and comes to be called either a gymnast or a doctor or a physicist or whatever".
"In elementary school, it's a painful story. Everyone is afraid to touch it and we know it," he added.
During last year 2022-2023, he said, 16.000 students took part in school sports activities.
He also noted that around 1000 students from all over Cyprus are studying at the sports school this year.
The First Education Officer and Head of the Sports and Culture Sector, Spyros Antonellos, said that he was surprised to hear so many things being said about gymnastics in Primary and Secondary Education.
"I want to say the following. So if I train nurses, I take my child to the trained nurse who has done a master's degree and I don't take him to the doctor?... The philosophy of physical education in elementary schools seems to be inadequate since by the time they get to high school, kids know nothing at all. That it was said that in high schools that proper work is not done, I will completely refute you, because our students participate in world high schools and we come with medals, regardless of the fact that these things are not shown in the mass media", he added.
He mentioned, at the same time, that it is time, as in the past a big window had been opened in elementary school and they had musicians teach music, for this thing to finally happen, for the teachers to accept that it is not possible for the teacher who teaches physics, Greek, etc. .etc., to do gymnastics.
"We went through many elementary schools and last year in particular, teachers made the children do gymnastics with heels," he noted.
At this point, there was a strong reaction from both the FOED and the Inspector of Primary Education, Georgios Giallouridis, speaking of unacceptable positions, as a result of which the discussion was stopped for a while.
In order to restore the tension that was created, it took the immediate and intense intervention first of the Deputy President of the Committee, Chrysantho Savvidis, saying that they were in the Parliament and not in the field and told them that no one was shouting, and then of the President of the Committee, Pavlos Mylonas, who recommended calmness and everyone will give their answers.
The President of POED, responding to what was heard, said that very offensive and sexist things were said.
"First of all, let us express our discomfort with the fact that bilingualism is found at the level of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education must have an opinion. Secondary Education cannot say something else and even offensive in relation to Primary Education, it is something we officially declare that we will file and report - it is not a matter of silence - to the Minister of Education as well", he noted.
In his announcement, regarding the opinions of representatives of the General Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth expressed at today's session of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture, where the topic "School Sports and the Problems faced by School Units" was discussed, the The Ministry of Education states that these do not express the official position of the Ministry, but are personal opinions.
The Commissioner for Legislation, Louiza Christodoulidou Zannetou, in a post on her personal account on the "X" platform, said that perhaps the time has come for gymnastics to be taught by qualified gymnasts not for the heels but for many other reasons.
The Deputy President of the Committee, Chrysanthos Savvidis, in his statements after the end of the session, said that although there are good results in the various competitions and events, it was nevertheless admitted that the correct sports infrastructures do not exist.
The only city, he continued, which has proper sports school infrastructure is Limassol, as they have been told.
"The other Provinces, for example, such as the Province of Paphos and Larnaca, as well as Nicosia, unfortunately, do not have open fields, but as a complaint has been made, there are fields and as the President of the Confederation of Parents said, they clean these fields every year , the fields, so that the students, the athletes, can play sports. And it is unacceptable and impermissible to have sports schools and not have the right sports infrastructure," he added.
DISY Member of Parliament, Giorgos Karoullas, in his statements said that with regard to school sports, in principle, a uniform policy should be formulated by the Ministry of Education and that each level should not say its own.
"Such phenomena that we experienced today must disappear. As far as school sports are concerned, there must be a will and there is a political will from all to contribute through the modernization of the syllabi and timetables, so that as a state we can build the vision and develop coordinated actions", he added.
He noted that "if we want a healthy society, school sports can help and lay the foundations for the child's free time and the utilization of the infrastructure to the maximum extent possible".
"It takes vision, planning, coordination, policy and budgeting. We will expect this vision and planning to unfold through all levels of education and other government agencies that may be involved. The CMO and any other services or authorities, to society for further development of sports in our society", he added.
The MP of AKEL, Christos Christofidis, in his statements said that when the Ministry of Education is called to the Education Committee, "it is called to tell us the official position of the Ministry and by extension the Government".
"It is unacceptable and unthinkable for each department of the Ministry of Education to come separately and say different positions from one another. For this issue, as for other issues, this phenomenon must disappear. We want to call on the Minister of Education to put her house in order, so that we know what is the position of the Ministry of Education and the government," he added.
"We are interested in this both in this case and when we discuss other policy issues. As for the image and what was heard today in the Education Committee, the Ministry of Education is fully responsible. Why; Why didn't he come up with a position as it should and develop this official position before the Commission", he added.
The Member of Parliament of DIPA-Cooperation, Alekos Tryfonidis, said in his statements that it was found that although many thousands of children are involved in sports, the problems that exist are enormous.
"We have shortages in facilities, in equipment. Many rooms are closed and not used for sports activities and in the case that we have rooms there is the big problem and the finding by the Technical Services that the maintenance budget is large. In order to meet the needs, as the Director of Technical Services of the Ministry of the Interior told us, the needs are currently estimated at around one billion in order for all school units to be sufficient either from fields or from closed rooms or from the facilities", he added.
As he said, the problem is huge.
"The discussion will continue and we will wait for the Minister of Education to take a position and I believe that it will be another important issue that the new Minister will focus on in order to provide effective solutions and stop the bilingualism that exists between Secondary and Primary Education regarding the issue and the opinions may be respectful of the two departments, but it is imperative to make a definitive political decision on who teaches the subject of gymnastics in Primary Education", he concluded.
Source: KYPE