AS MANY as 900 Gymnasium students lack basic literacy skills and are at the education level of primary school second graders.
According to reports in yesterday’s Phileleftheros newspaper, hundreds of pupils do not have satisfactory skills in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Many don’t even know the Greek alphabet and even though they’re at Gymnasiums, their levels of literacy are similar to those of primary schoolchildren, therefore making them illiterate.
A special Ministry of Education programme was set up six years ago to help children improve their literacy levels, with the programme steadily gaining in numbers.
In 1999, 500 schoolchildren from 32 schools took part, with the number rising to 900 children from 56 schools by the end of last year.
But Andreas Iosif, President of the Secondary School Teachers Union, OELMEK, said changes to the programme were desperately needed.
“The problem of illiteracy is a very big one here in Cyprus. This Ministry of Education programme is not very helpful, as it is of a very low standard. From the ages of 11 or 12, when children first go to high school, they are tested by the Ministry of Education for basic literacy skills.
“But nothing seems to be done, when it comes down to raising their standards. I believe the solution is to introduce more teachers and more private or specialised classes to help those in need”.
Andreas Skotinos, director of secondary education at The Ministry of Education, also acknowledged that there was a problem, saying: “students of differing abilities are all put in the same class as it’s important to promote social cohesion”.
To combat illiteracy he suggested “strong co-operation between parents and schools, who should provide extra-curricular means of helping pupils”.
Illiteracy has serious consequences on an individual and in particular on their mental health, often leading to self-destructive behaviour.
In modern society, the word literacy means reading and writing at a level adequate for written communication and generally, a level that enables one to successfully function at certain levels of a society.
