In the given conditions with the epidemiological data as we all know, the situation in the schools is definitely difficult, said the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Prodromos Prodromou, in his statements to KYPE.
Asked about the situation in schools, Mr. Prodromou said that "We have absences of a number of teachers".
"Some are pandemic, whether they are cases or contacts," he said, adding that "some others have to stay home for babysitting, which is also restricted."
According to Mr. Prodromou, "Today a very large number of replacements had to be made, a few hundred."
"All possible means have been mobilized and as far as possible we have managed to make the replacements," he said.
We must note, he said, "That a number of students are missing from the schools. This is next, because of the pandemic. Of course, in secondary education, a number of students are also missing, who will probably be preparing for the exams that will start in high schools and technical schools on Friday ".
The Minister of Education also stated that the efforts made through the Committee of Education Service exhaust the lists and the available substitutes and beyond that, internal arrangements are employed either between programs of the Ministry of Education, utilizing some teachers who serve in DRA schools. S.E., either by bringing philologists to primary schools where the gaps can not be filled or by internal arrangements.
As he said, there are fixed instructions in the addresses of the Ministry of Education.
"We have tomorrow's numbers. I have an information that Secondary Education may need an additional number of almost 137 teachers, of which the real needs will be around 60 ", he said, adding that "The replacement process according to the regulations is done for teachers who are absent for three days or more".
And secondly, continued Mr. Prodromou, "A number of those who are absent have long been with chronic diseases."
Therefore, he said, "The real numbers we have to replace are different."
"I urge educational organizations to stop trying to guess the numbers and to send misleading messages. The only valid statistics are those given by the directorates of the Ministry in collaboration with the Committee of the Educational Service ", he added.
Mr. Prodromou, in addition, stated that a struggle is taking place "and today with great efforts it became possible to replace the teachers who were missing and tomorrow we predict that we will succeed".
"The pressure is great", he noted, assuring that "At the Ministry of Education we are all on alert and we are constantly cooperating with the Education Service Committee". But, he added, "I call on educational organizations to stop trying to find and give numbers because there is information they do not know and they are sending misleading information."
"In any case, we utilize the available staff that we have in the Ministry, in fact in anticipation of the meetings that take place in the Ministry of Health, with which we have continuous cooperation both for the processing of cases, for diagnostics and we discuss, as I said, again with the Minister of Health to make special use of in schools and the process of self-tests ", he added.
Four-month exams
Answering the issue of the four-month exams and the students who will be absent due to the pandemic, Mr. Prodromou said that there is a fixed provision, which is valid regardless of the pandemic.
"It is always provided that there is a second series of exams for those who for any reason will be hindered, will be justifiably absent and will not attend the exams", he clarified.
From the time the issue was raised, he said, "We have two questions for each exam, two essays, just for this purpose."
Therefore, he added, "This is not something new."
"What we will do especially this year is in case there is a need for a third series and of course for some children to attend exams, who will have lost the first exam, this will not be to the detriment of the students. We will talk for a few hours afterwards, once the exams are over ", concluded.