Minister of Education – Project Report Presidential Palace, Nicosia, Cyprus The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Mr. Prodromos Prodromou, is conducting a report on the Ministry's work for the years 2018-2023. //Education Minister – Presentation of the Ministry's work Presidential Palace, Lefkosia, Cyprus The Minister of Education, Sport and Youth, Mr Prodromos Prodromou, holds a press conference on the work of the Ministry for the years 2018-2023.
We are carving out a new era for education, we are investing in education, sports and youth, stated, among others, the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Prodromos Prodromou, presenting on Thursday the report of the Ministry's work for the years 2018-2023, in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Kyriakos Kokkinos, officials and collaborators of the Ministry.
Mr. Prodromou said that the report and the accountability for the last three years located in the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, is inseparable from the work implemented in education, culture, sports and youth issues throughout the decade and by his predecessors Ministers, Kostas Kadi and Kostas Hambiauri.
He also mentioned that the Ministry's work has been unified, within the framework of the Governance Program of the President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiadis, which governance has achieved so many things, as he said.
«Since then which was undertaken by the President and there was in the state coffers more than 1-2 months salaries, including the teachers, until today when we see hundreds of millions in university education and research programmes, a recovery plan spending almost €50 million on building schools, increase in the number of teachers in public educationfrom 12 thousand in 2012/13 to 14 thousand this year, i.e. a 17% increase, with investments in education of the order of 100 million in the Cyprus Tomorrow Plan and schools passing in the digital age”, he added.
As he said, for two of the last three years “we fought the pandemic”.
Despite what enormous difficulties,continued the Minister of Education, the public school emerged as a bulwark against the threat. good performance compared to other EU member countries. On the occasion we also made a great leap in the use of technology and the use of digital media literally reforming the school. >In this context, we also owe thanks to the Minister of Health and the Scientific Advisory Committee”, he added.
He also mentioned that some of the most important actions concern the overall education reform of the Governance Program of President Anastasiades, which has been promoted piecemeal for years, in accordance with the decisions of the Parliament and legislation and I believe that it should be continued in the next administration in order to have all the positive results.
essentiallyin the digital age,underlining the contribution of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy and the very close collaboration they had with Mr. Kokkinos. First, he said, within a short period of time, in 2020, schools were able to provide distance education, using digital media.
Since then, continued the Minister of Education, digital transformation is a reality and is being promoted systematically with three major projects that they were able to put in place and are in progress.
Specifically, he said that he started the project of Electronic Governance of Schools,with an expenditure of around 25 million euros and by the start of the next school year it will have produced the first results and will be completed by 2025.
“All the work and communications of parents with the school, students with teachers, management with teachers and parents, as well as generally with all interested parties, will be done electronically using a simple personal digital device. Bureaucracy and administrative costs are drastically reduced, while at the same time the operation of the school is modernized, ensuring greater comfort for students, teachers and parents, he added.
It is, he noted, in a process implementation and the contract for the creation of 6,600 digital classrooms in all schools.
“It is a project with an expenditure of 9 million euros, within the framework of the “Cyprus tomorrow” Plan, out of a total budget of 14 million. By the next school year, the classrooms will have full digital capabilities and in combination with sufficient Internet connection for all schools, which has been achieved in the previous two years, will be able to be used”, he added.
At the same time, he mentioned that in addition to the school facilities, they ensure that all children have access capabilities with their own digital device.
“However, it should be noted that since 2020, more than 100 thousand subscriptions have already been activated for the entire student and educational population, for access to the electronic distance education system of the Ministry of Education. At the same time, a large number of teachers were trained and a series of technological innovations and digital applications prepared at the Pedagogical Institute in the last two years are now available and are gradually being introduced with a horizontal approach to the curriculum and teaching practices in schools”, he said.
He also noted some necessary amendments made to the legislation, which, as he said, should then be supplemented with proposals that have already been prepared at the Ministry. >important the decision of the Government to end the practice of purchasing services for programs of the Ministry of Health “after study, processing and consultations for many months – more than a year, so the parallel made by some with the time of the elections is not correct”.
It is, he continued, about 14 different programs with quite special features.
“For these needs, as formed through the study that was done, it is planned to offer employment contracts to teachers. Many hundreds of contracts. This planning has been approved by the Council of Ministers and should then be implemented by the Minister of Education, in cooperation with the Minister of Finance. The purpose is to respond to court decisions, but also to ensure needs on a permanent basis, especially in All-Day Schools and in Schools that implement the School and Social Integration Actions (DRA.SE+) program”, he added.
He also mentioned that another great innovation designed to be implemented from the next school year isi the replacement of the method of purchasing services with the employment of educational staff in all the supplementary programs of the Ministry of the Interior. of the Ministry of Education and a large number of qualified teachers, according to the established procedures of competitions and lists, will be able to find an employment contract”, he added.
Higher and university education
Referring to higher and university education, Mr. Prodromou said that we have a real cosmogony. more than 60 thousand. They almost doubled. Taking into account the intense activity, with research programs that gather funding of several hundreds of millions of euros, we can say that what was once a vision and a distant goal is now a reality: we see our country as an international regional center of university education”. he noted.
As he mentioned, with 11 universities today, compared to 8 that were before at the beginning of the administration, and some more that are being prepared and a large number of other higher education schools, such as our two research institutes with postgraduate and doctoral studies, Cyprus displays a very remarkable higher education activity.
The Minister of Education also noted the creation and operation of the DIPAE Agency, yesterday's signing of the first intergovernmental agreement on the mutual recognition of university degrees with Greece, the steps taken for the Green Transition.
Merit in schools
Referring to meritocracy in schools and the need for public education to be accountable to society, Mr. Prodromou said, among other things, that they want a school that promotes meritocracy and motivates by rewarding effort.
“In order to promote an education based on values, it is necessary to apply merit-based procedures, to have a reliable evaluation system at all levels. This very important “lesson” which, by all accounts, is much needed in our country, cannot be limited only to rhetorical declarations or teaching from the pulpit. But it must go through the actual practice and experiences, which as is known have a much more decisive effect on the children”, he added.
In this context, the Minister of Education referred, among other things, to >the Plan for the Evaluation of Educational Project and Teachers, in the Evaluation of students, in the abolition of stagnation due to performance in the High School, in the overall proposal for improving learning results, in the creation of the Athalassa Education and Research Center, in the creation of the Center for Greek Letters and Culture in the Pangyprian High School, in the educational Mission to the United Kingdom, in the operation of the Special Education Assessment Center and in the expansion of the operation of the Special Schools during the summer months. for this reason, I would also like to thank the President of the Republic retroactively for the honor he has given me, hoping that I have responded to what he sought the term of the President of the Republic, which I believe ends with a very positive sign”, he added.
