The case of the leak of the subjects of the examination essay of the New Greeks for the 3rd Lyceum seems to be taking on large dimensions, with the fronts for the Ministry of Education, at the moment, being many. In particular, a way must be found to punish the culprits, which as it seems is not only the one teacher of the private school, but several, while at the same time, the Ministry of Education is called upon to face the reactions of both the organizations involved in the sector of education, as well as the political parties, who came forward and criticized him.
The Ministry of Education, although in fact bears no responsibility, given that the leak was made by a female teacher, is nevertheless called upon to close the holes and gaps observed, so that there are no repetitions. At the same time, with the decisions it is called upon to make, it comes to cover its back, so that it is not faced with surprises again in the future.
In addition to the gaps in the procedures, the Ministry of Education is called upon to find and the way for exemplary punishment of those responsible for the situation in question, since it seems that it is not just one person. Instead, it is a chain, which resulted in a short period of time for all students in Cyprus to know the subjects, before they even get to school.
Specifically, the leak chain started with the private school teacher in Nicosia, who had access to the essay before it reached the classrooms and who managed to extract as much information as she could and send it to a friend of hers, also a private school teacher. tutoring center in Larnaca. She, in turn, sent the specific information to her students and in this way, one student sent to another and slowly the whole of Cyprus knew this information.
Although the information that has seen the light of day speaks of the involvement of a third professor, at the moment there is no tangible evidence to support these reports. What needs to be clarified, however, is the role of the particular professor who started the leak, since the information that exists so far conflicts with each other, as on the one hand the minister, in his public statements, clarifies that she had no involvement in the Committee which is designated by each school and is responsible for the documents sent by e-mail and on the other hand, there are reports that they want her to be a member of the specific Committee.
The Minister of Education, however, has already requested the assistance of the Legal Service, as his legal advisor, in order to give him some instructions on how to react. However, so far no complaint has been made to the Police, although it seems that it is not the intention of the Ministry of Education to proceed in this direction.
The voices continue
In the meantime, the voices that had arisen from the beginning of this specific case as the hours pass increase and intensify, with the parents, students and teachers already united in a common front and standing against the Ministry of Education. In fact, they have already placed the sole responsibility on Prodromos Prodromos, stressing that his management was tragic, especially after the information about the leak.
The opinion that the Ministry should postpone the exams and schedule them at a later stage is gaining more and more ground, especially after the information that reaches the organized bodies, about the number of students who have not sat for their exams properly, given the confusion that prevailed. However, at the moment the interest is focused on what will be done with the students who have not been examined, since it is a large number, exceeding 250, as the minister himself had mentioned.
On the table, there is the proposal of the three bodies such as the New Greek exams, which have been held, to be canceled and to give all students a second chance, so that they have a better chance of success. A proposal that the minister does not see with a good eye, given that there is also a problem with the regulations governing the institution of examinations every four months, in which it is made clear that those who were justifiably absent from the A series participate in the B series.
This is another problem, as objectively there is no excuse that students did not work hard in the exams, with the Ministry of Education citing this and stressing that specific cases should be checked. However, if one looks at the situation holistically, it cannot be denied that the whole disturbance that has been caused, which has resulted in students reaching the verge of panic attacks, is not a reason to abstain from the examination.
In the event that the Ministry of Education takes any decision, the only result of which will be the 250 or more students who were not examined, for whatever reason, not having the opportunity to sit for the examinations at a later stage, the reactions from the organized bodies will they are dynamic. However, it seems that the Ministry is not inclined in this direction, as it would be a clear victimization of the specific students.
At the same time, teachers and parents are calling on the Ministry of Education to immediately announce the date for the next series of exams, so that the students are able to plan, given that due to the rest of the schedule, their exams continue as normal. As, in fact, it is stated in their joint statement “”we are not going to accept the victimization of any student for what happened yesterday. We will not tolerate students paying for the mistakes of others. For this reason, decisions should be made today for the New Greek 3rd Lyceum course, in order to give the opportunity to sit the exam for the students who did not sit yesterday, but also for those who wish to repeat the written exam. We emphasize that the decisions should be announced today, in order to restore calm to the students, which is necessary for the continuation”. from both organizations is that no movement has been made from their side and they are waiting for the minister to call them. agencies with the fiasco
