Coronavirus: Parents call for online learning to be assessed

Parents of children still following online classes on Tuesday called for “a reasonable amount of time” to be dedicated to determining what their children have learned during time away from the classroom after they return to school on Friday.

Gymnasium school children, who have been following remote learning since January are expected to return to class on April 2, following the recommendation of experts, as well as the education and health ministers.

But their parents, who have been calling for their return since the beginning of the month, said on Tuesday they are not satisfied, and requested teaching material to be modified.

Teachers should first evaluate the current knowledge of their students, without taking the results into consideration for their final grades, the head of the Pancyprian Federation of Parents’ Associations Charalambos Dionysiou told the Cyprus News Agency.

A revision of the teaching material should follow, while focus should shift to the main subjects that children will be examined on.

“No tests should be held in the non-examination courses for a reasonable period of time, and, where possible, they should be evaluated with alternative forms of assessment,” Dionysiou added.

Children’s return to school gives them a feeling of ‘normalcy’, Dionysiou said, and called on the education minister to ensure students can remain in class.