THE secondary school teachers’ union, OELMEK, is considering its stance in the face of the Education Ministry’s insistence to open the four remaining chapters on the issue of educational reform.
Following a four-hour meeting yesterday, OELMEK’s central board agreed to continue its discussion of the matter next Thursday.
Until then, its president Iacovos Iacovou was unwilling to comment on what measures were under discussion.
The rift between the ministry and the teachers occurred on Tuesday, when OELMEK representatives walked out of a primary and middle education council meeting, which had been discussing the Educational Reform System.
According to OELMEK, the blame lies entirely with the ministry. In turn, the ministry has expressed surprised at the union’s refusal to “listen to some of its thoughts, which we believe contribute towards the improvement, not the abolition, of an appointment system that everyone admits needs modernisation.”
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail following yesterday’s meeting, Iacovou said the union’s walkout had had nothing to do with its refusal to listen to the ministry’s views on how teachers were hired in the public sector.
“The educational reform system has eight chapters. The agreement was that we would first discuss four of those chapters and when they were closed and sent to the president and parliament for approval, we would continue with the remaining four chapters,” he said.
The eight chapters, of which each one has a series of subheadings, include administrative matters, upgrading and restructuring of the teachers’ training institute, the creation of an educational research centre, the systematic and continuous education of teachers from the day of their appointment till retirement, teacher training programmes, the restructuring and modernisation of public schools, teachers’ appraisals and evaluations of the educational system, and the teachers’ appointment list.
“We had come up with the proposals for the first four chapters and have been waiting for the ministry’s counter proposals so that we can send a compile a completed proposal and send it to the president for approval. The agreement was that these four chapters would be completed before we opened up the remaining four chapters for discussion,” he said.
Iacovou said that for 12 months, the ministry had refused to respond with its counter proposals, coming up with excuses every time. Then in July the ministry opened three more chapters.
He said: “We told them that we were not willing to discuss any more chapters without first completing the first four. When they opened the final chapter for discussion [at Tuesday’s meeting], that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The OELMEK president said it was not that his members were opposed to abolishing the appointment list. He explained that the eighth chapter was a very sensitive issue that affected society at large and could cause conflict, and should have been discussed at the appropriate time, as originally agreed by both sides last year.
Reports said the ministry was both surprised and saddened at OELMEK’s stance and that that “everyone has a duty, independent of sensitivities, reservations or intense objections, to safeguard the ongoing talks”.
Nevertheless, Iacovou said none of the union’s representatives would be attending any further meetings until its board meeting next week to discuss how to proceed.
No one from the Education Ministry was yesterday available for comment.
