Education minister says another difficult school year passes successfully

Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou on Tuesday praised the 2021-2022 academic year as having been a success despite a series of setbacks and challenges while emphasising that further improvements are on the way.

He mentioned the issues brought on by the pandemic and the subsequent mandated restrictions but said he was relieved that schools managed to remain open.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, he also pointed to major physical improvements carried out across educational facilities.

Prodromou said extensive renovation, expansion works and other upgrades have been carried out across a wide range of school units across all the districts – the most extensive of which were those at the Pancyprian, at a cost of €8m.

A further €75m is earmarked for works at other units.

Looking ahead, to the next academic year, he added that the ministry welcomes the ongoing discussions on changing the school timetable, a process which is being researched by the house education committee which has discussed the possibility of introducing all day schools. The main aim of the proposals is to reduce traffic jams during rush hour, which it is hoped can be reduced should schools start later in the morning.

Elsewhere, the minister also praised the efforts underway to digitalise education, which he admitted are not finalised but have progressed well. Drawing on the scale of change and the vision for digital education, the minister said that by the end of 2023 there will be 6,600 classrooms available online.

Other key changes and improvements by digitalising education are making other services available online, such as registration, results and feedback.