The new appointment system, the evaluation system and the modernization of OELMEK will be presented to the new Secretariat of the Organization in the next period. The new President of OELMEK, Constantinos Constantinou, spoke to KYPE about the goals of the Organization, about what will concern them in the next period, about the contacts with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and with other educational institutions, as well as about the modernization of the Organization, so that it becomes, as he says, more efficient, more modern, more reliable, assertive and democratic.
Asked to refer to the goals of the new Secretariat of the Organization, Mr. Constantinou said that in general their goal is to succeed in a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and collective responsibility so that OELMEK is strengthened, becomes stronger, more reliable, assertive and democratic.
The purpose, he continues, is for the organization “first, to contribute constructively to the upgrading of the public school, secondly to be able to effectively defend the rights of teachers” and thirdly, to operate “with more transparency, accountability and active participation of the members”, as he said.
Educational issues
Regarding educational issues, the new President of OELMEK said that they have two issues in front of them which are currently in the news, and for which immediate decisions must be made.
“We have the new appointment system, where we clearly state, as is the decision of the All-Cypriot Conference of General Representatives of OELMEK – our Supreme Collective body – that we will not accept under any circumstances the victimization of teachers, either indefinite-term or contract holders or substitutes, who contribute to our schools, offer work and are deemed capable” he says. We will not accept any change that will send these people out of the system, he adds.
Regarding the evaluation system, Mr. Constantinou said that “as OELMEK we defend an evaluation system that, first of all, must support the teacher, upgrade the educational work and contribute substantially to the improvement of public education”.
“We believe that essential changes are required in the new system that has been voted for, on the one hand, to ensure meritocracy, objectivity and equal treatment, and on the other hand, to change some distortions that we believe will cause dysfunction in the school and will have opposite results than what the devotees of this particular system might expect,” he noted.
Modernization of OELMEK
And regarding the third pillar, Mr. Constantinou said that it concerns exclusively the modernization of OELMEK.
“We intend to proceed with some changes to make OELMEK more efficient, more modern” he continued, saying that improving the public image of OELMEK is an important parameter. He set as a front page the right to show society the work that is carried out in schools and to bring teachers, family and students closer together. “I know we have a long way to go and many problems, but our goal is for our schools to be the centers of creative learning and development,” he added.
Contacts with educational institutions
When asked if they will have contacts with the Ministry of Education, Mr. Constantinou said that on Thursday there was already a small meeting on the issue of infinitives, but officially they have a meeting next Friday on the issue of appointments with the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Athina Michailidou. In the interim as the Secretariat, before the meeting with the Minister, they will have a meeting with the POED on the same issue and with the Committee representing the people he has previously mentioned, he said.
Asked to answer whether a solution to the issue can be found that satisfies all sides, Mr. Constantinou said that “obviously we enter with the spirit that we want a solution to be found”. “In principle, there are no sides, in my opinion” he continued, saying that for the appointment system there is a legislation “that if applied tomorrow as it is, that is if no one does anything, we will not have enough staff in the schools”. “This is why the Ministry is going to change the legislation. I want to make this clear, because the thought that we are pushing for a change in the legislation is a bit far-fetched. The legislation must be changed anyway, simply because there won’t be enough teachers in our schools,” he added.
As he said, if everyone has this goal, that is, the adequacy of staff and a “human approach that we cannot expel people from the system without being responsible, I think we can find solutions.”
Asked if they will also have a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Education, with its new composition, Mr. Konstantinou said that they expect good cooperation with them. “We haven’t met with them yet. I think we will meet soon. We do not have an invitation” but we have the intention of a good cooperation with the Commission “because it is an important link in the chain”, he concluded.
Source: KYPE