There is no question of discrimination between students, the Rector of the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK), Panagiotis Zafeiris, clarified on Wednesday, who was invited by KYPE to comment on the reactions of students, which emerged after yesterday's decision of the Senate.
The decision taken concerns the conduct of courses with physical presence of academics and students, who have a vaccination certificate for the disease COVID 19 at least one dose and provided that three weeks have elapsed since the date of vaccination or a certificate of recovery from the disease COVID 19 valid for six months from the date of sampling of the initial positive diagnosis or a medical certificate proving that the person cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.
The Rector of TEPAK responds to the reactions, saying that the Senate decided "knowing all the legal aspects of the issue", while for the decision that was taken on Tuesday - and before the Council of Ministers decided on the new measures - he clarified that the Universities are " autonomous entities ”and any of their decisions, as well as their mode of operation, are determined only by the Senate.
He even stated that any decision of the state will not affect the decision of the Senate, while he called on the students to listen, to understand that this decision is in their interest.
Misunderstanding with the protest
Asked about today's protest rally outside the Ministry of Health, which is reportedly taking place on the occasion of yesterday's decision of TEPAK, Mr. Zafeiris said that "there is a misunderstanding with this protest", explaining that the specific protest was planned before the decision of the Senate and concerned the cost of PCR tests and RAPID tests.
As he added, the protest will also focus on yesterday's decision of TEPAK, however, he clarified that it does not exclusively concern this decision.
The rationale for the decision
Referring to the reasoning of the Senate decision, the Rector of TEPAK said that it is the only solution, after noting that students have an increased number of contacts.
"A university is very different from a business. At the university, students are in classrooms throughout the day. They do three to four lessons a day in different audiences. The student moves from room to room and comes in contact with different people throughout the day. The spread of the virus is very easy to do, as well as difficult to track. TEPAK conducts 400 lessons per week. "Exercising proper control in such a situation is very difficult, since half of the administrative staff would have to enter the control process at the risk of not being done properly," he said.
The decision is in their interest
Asked to comment on the announcements of the student groups, which speak of "inequality and discrimination" between students, Mr. Zafeiris said that "we do not discriminate", to emphasize that knowing that there would be reactions to such a decision A legal opinion was requested, stating that the University has every right to implement any of its decisions.
"Because we knew that if we made this decision there would be reactions, we asked for a legal opinion from a consultant, for all the proposals we had before us. The Senate decided knowing all the legal aspects of the issue. "The legal advisers told us that we have every right to do that and there is no question of discrimination, because we give the choice to the students," he said.
On the argument of "separation", he said that until May students were taught remotely (online), to note that at the moment those who are not vaccinated will continue with the same form of teaching, which took place in the last year and a half.
"Those who chose to be vaccinated," he said, "are returning to the classroom. Those who stay home save time to think and choose if they want to be vaccinated. If they choose to do so three weeks later they will be in class. In other words, they have the opportunity to return to the halls normally ".
Remarking that the decision of the Senate was taken before the Council of Ministers even decided on new measures, Mr. Zafeiris said that "Universities are autonomous entities and any decisions and their mode of operation are determined by the Senate."
"And for the state to decide that it will conduct a free PCR test and Rapid test does not affect our final decision and so we will move forward," he said.
Regarding the reactions of the students, he stated that he has confidence in the students that "they will listen to us and understand that it is in their interest to make the decision".
"All students want to return with a physical presence. "Proceeding with the model we say, even if they encourage their fellow students in a very short period of time, we will all be back in the rooms that are the common goal", he added.
Decision with 16 votes in favor
Regarding yesterday's decision, he stated that "a structured dialogue took place with three complete multi-page proposals", to add that the proposal that was finally approved, with 16 votes in favor, was submitted by the members of the TEPAK School of Health, which is in Senate.
He also noted that the Senate last June decided to take a stand on the issue of vaccines and is in favor of vaccination, adding that it has called on all members of the University since then - for almost two months - to be vaccinated.