Statistics refute the rumors that the exams of the first four months in the Lyceums were disastrous, said the Minister of Education, Prodromos Prodromou on Saturday, after a meeting at the Ministry of Education with the leadership of organized secondary education parents on the subject.
< p>In particular, the Minister, citing data, said that looking at the statistical distributions of grades in the main courses at least, it seems that it is what they expected, “a normal distribution” that does not differ from previous years.
“But when , in all the main courses this year we had a percentage like in Modern Greek of the Third Lyceum that somewhere 10% excel, from 17 to 20 in the score, then these voices are denied that it was a disaster, “said Mr. Prodromou at a press conference after the meeting .
He added that these results and the indications they have are already being used for the internal improvement of the school and for the adaptation of teaching methods, as well as for the better organization of studies “which is the next big issue that we should discuss”.
The Minister had an earlier meeting with the President and members of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Parents' Associations of Public Secondary Schools on the new evaluation process and the four-month written examinations in Lyceums and Technical Schools.
The purpose, he said, was the complete and thorough information on the procedures followed in the Lyceums and the Technical Schools for the evaluation of the examination essays every four months. He said that the opportunity was given to the directorates of the Ministry, to the professional executives, to the teachers who deal with the subject matter, correction and organization of the exams to give a detailed information to the parents “because it seems that there may be wrong impressions”. According to Mr. Prodromou, various questions were answered as well as allegations that have been heard from time to time.
He pointed out the very good cooperation with the Confederation of Parents, who, he said, have helped in the pandemic in the proper functioning of schools but also in the difficult process of implementing the reform reforms that have taken place in recent years in education.
“We want and we have to communicate with the parents, and to pass the message to the children, to the new generation that for knowledge, learning, effort is needed. “It's worthwhile to make efforts for knowledge, learning and cultivation, that nothing can be achieved without some effort in the field of knowledge,” he said. “But I do not think that anyone wants us to question the prestige and the level of our Lyceum and our diplomas.”
approach. “School should not be a business where the customer is always right.”
Together with the organized parents and the teachers, he added, they will see where and how some improvement changes can be made, but he stressed that the evaluation process of the four months will be extended from next year to the Gymnasiums.
Mistakes , he said, can be done, as everywhere and there may be things that need improvement, “but it is not possible to cancel the school, the evaluation, as I hear some voices, to want to abolish quality certification, is not right.” p>
The Minister also said that the process of teaching, evaluation, and definition of methods should be left to the competent services, teachers and management of the Ministry. He said that they are selected executives who are involved and involved in the procedures and evaluations, who have more than 20 years of experience, “and we should let them do their job, it is not a political process, nor bargaining.”
He said that the education and evaluations in Cyprus are almost the same as they are everywhere in the other European Member States.
Mr. Prodromou also referred to “a cheap populism that hits education”. “With evidence we told the parents not to be carried away by irresponsible voices,” he added.
In addition to the General Director and the Directors of Secondary General and Secondary Technical Education and Training, the Inspectors General, First Education Officers, as well as a number of Inspectors of various courses participated in informing the parents.
According to a press release of the Ministry of Education, during the meeting, the Ministry provided data that show that the evaluation carried out in January this year has results that do not differ significantly from those of previous years – where there was a similar evaluation – while and the performance of the students of the three 3rd Lyceum/Technical Schools, who attended the four-month exams for the first time, is proportional to the performance of the same students/three in last year 's exams as students of the 2nd Lyceum/Technical Schools./p>
The performance, it is reported, was on average about the same as other school years, with deviations of the order of 1-1.5 points (which deviations in some cases were also positive).
< p>The distribution of the performance in the various courses in a total of thousands of students shows that it is statistically expected, with a percentage of 10% of the students/three C 'Lyceum to have high performance (17-20/20) and the majority to have the average performance, as more than 1/3 were scored between 10 and 13/20. A similar “normal distribution” existed in Mathematics, Physics and other subjects, it is added to the press release.
The Ministry also referred to relevant “dramatic” publications, and for this reason, as reported, data were presented on the performance of students/three who belong to the group of “school”, that is, who have the highest performance./p>
“These results show that in the vast majority and with a few exceptions measured on the fingers, the performance of these students/three from a number of schools in different provinces from which data have been collected is the same or even better than their regular performance “. Therefore, it is reported, the harsh reports made by some about “victimization” are by no means true and were irresponsible & # 8211; if not malicious.
The Minister of Education in his statements also referred to the criticism exercised by AKEL in the public school. He said that AKEL “fights the public school, years now”, because it wants it inferior and without evaluation.
this way, in a public school without quality certification, which will push all those who ask for the best, to go to private education. “Only AKEL can achieve this by fighting the evaluation procedures of public schools,” he said.
He also said that he does not want the Ministry to be dragged down this path. “We do not want to cultivate elitist tendencies, that is, to push children and parents into other schools, we want to have quality in the public school and to do that we need an evaluation that cultivates values,” he said.
The Confederations said they would hold a press conference on the issue on Thursday.
Source: KYPE
