Lawmakers approve staggered twice-yearly exams

Lawmakers on Friday approved the introduction of twice-yearly exams in high schools starting with the new school year.

The bill provides for the introduction of four-monthly exams starting with the fourth year and gradually extending it to the fifth and sixth years in 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 respectively.

Main opposition Akel, which disagreed with the proposal, said Cyprus had an exam-heavy education system that had to change.

The party accused the government of trying to tackle the dysfunctions of the system by adding more exams. Akel MP Andros Kafkalias suggested it was an educational crime only to be told by his Disy colleague Giorgos Karoullas that the only crime was the one currently in place.

The new scheme was opposed by teachers and students alike.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.