EVERY SO often, Cyprus’ students participate in international tests, conducted to establish education standards in the different countries, and they perform very badly. The results scored by secondary school pupils in science and mathematics were in the news last week, as they were used as part of a study on secondary education standards being carried out by the Cyprus University.
In these surveys, conducted in all European countries in 1995 and in 1999, Cyprus pupils came bottom and second from bottom respectively. It was not only pupils from wealthy western European countries which took part in the tests but also those from poorer countries such as Romania and Lithuania. In a similar survey conducted in 35 countries of the world last year, Cyprus finished 26th. Poor results have also been scored in other surveys.
Attempts by education ministry officials to attribute the poor results to difficulties pupils had in understanding the questions in the tests were not very convincing. In fact, the consistency of the poor results could only lead to one conclusion – general standards at state schools are low, compared to most countries. The fact that private, afternoon tuition has become a multi-million pound business is proof that the service being offered by the schools is inadequate and unsatisfactory.
The truth is that the education system has been in need of radical modernisation for years now but the education ministry is unwilling, or unable, to undertake such a project. Ministry mandarins have long been aware of the weaknesses in state education. Some 10 years ago, the government commissioned a study by an international agency affiliated to UNESCO to establish what the weaknesses were and to make recommendations for improvement.
The study criticised almost everything – the lack of teacher training, the failure to use teaching aids in classrooms, the absence of science laboratories and of empirical learning and the antiquated teaching techniques which did not engage students. Ten years on, the only improvement made in state education was to make graduates do a teacher-training course before they were given permanent teaching jobs. None of the other recommendations made by the study have been implemented, despite the fact that state spending on education seems to be rising every year.
Does the ministry of education have any plans of implementing the recommendations made by the experts, or have they shelved any such idea because the political will does not exist? Perhaps they are afraid of the opposition of teachers who are perfectly happy with the antiquated and undemanding teaching practices they are familiar with. Yet the ministry must remember that its chief responsibility is to the children who are being badly let down by an obsolete education system in desperate need of an overhaul.
