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A. Skertsos: Education in ‘Greece 2.0’

The next goals of the government educational reform, and through the consulted bill, but also the challenges of “Greece 2.0” for the education sector, unfolds, in an article in the newspaper “To Vima tis Kyriakis”, the Minister of State, responsible for coordination of government policies, Akis Skertsos.

In a personal tone, at the beginning of the article, the minister notes: “As a graduate of a public school and a public university and a child of a middle-class family, I know first hand how quality free public education can be the most important belt of social and economic growth, a powerful resource for progress in a person’s life, especially for the less privileged citizens.

The democratization of education after the junta in the 1970s and 1980s contributed significantly to social mobility and the elimination of inequalities, offering everyone many opportunities for professional development and advancement. “Unfortunately, at some point public education in our country stopped fulfilling this role, serving other purposes, but not the needs of young people or the new needs of the labor market”, he points out and continues by describing the pathogenesis of education:

“We have come to have – for reasons that require a dissertation and do not fit in an article – a discredited public school with a low level of education, an expansion of private and tutoring education, insufficient infrastructure, a complete absence of evaluation of teachers, structures and programs, a long distance between education and labor market, extroversion, pockets of excellence, research and innovation “.

Some indicators that point to the problem, according to the Minister of State, are: “We have more graduates than the European average, but 60% of young people who work, say that they do a job that is irrelevant to their studies or below their qualifications. Fewer young people choose vocational education and training (1 in 3 in Greece, 1 in 2 in the EU) although it often provides better employment and pay prospects.

Greek children are in the last positions of PISA, in the acquisition of basic knowledge of language and mathematics compared to students from other European countries. “Every year only 1 in 9 graduates from the University, while in the EU on average 1 in 4. Although we are one of the 50 richest countries in the world, none of our universities is among the 150 best in the world in international rankings.”

In addition to the above, one should also add “the demographic imbalance – reduction of the student population due to the decline in births and aging of teachers, the underfunding of education (below the EU average), and the financial bleeding of the Greek family for the private education of its children (at least 1.5 billion euros per year without taking into account the extensive informal economy of “private” courses) “.

According to A. Scherzo, “the correction of such a distorted situation can not be done with patchwork obsolete solutions but only with a radical reform in favor of a good public school. the university, in order to cover the distance with the rest of Europe and the knowledge economies “, underlines the following goals:

“To have a modern public education that will guarantee valuable degrees, knowledge related to the needs of today and the 4th industrial revolution, and the prospect of good jobs and high incomes. To stop being among the countries with the largest inequalities in these fields.

These are exactly the goals of the educational reform, which the government started to implement from the bottom up, as soon as it took office, and is legally completed with the bill “New Horizons in Higher Education Institutions” under consultation, he states in “for them”, describing at the same time what achieves this bill.

With the promoted regulations, therefore, “the double undergraduates from Departments of the same or other HEIs are institutionalized, the professional postgraduates with teachers and experts from the labor market, and the industrial doctorates (partnership of companies with a HEI so that the candidate teaches to carry out research on the object of business activity). The “Greek Erasmus” is created, the paid and insured internship of students is established – during their studies – in legal entities of public and private law “.

In addition, ensuring a meritocratic, transparent, objective mechanism for the election and development of faculty members is crucial, in order to cure the chronic pathogenesis of the “photographic” announcement of positions with opaque choices and developments of the teaching staff.

The new regulations complement the previous changes in higher education, which include – I remind you – the introduction of a minimum admission base, the termination of the phenomenon of lifelong students, distribution of funding in universities based on evaluation – not by Minister’s decision, restoration of university asylum and special “Guardian body that will be installed this summer in 4 universities, restructuring of the academic map of the country”, are some more regulations that the Minister of State touches on in his article.

Then, it refers to the “Greece 2.0” plan and how through it “we secured in addition to the regular financing over 2.5 billion euros through the Recovery Fund, with 21 large public investments and reforms in the Greek system of public education and training. including the digital transformation of education (digital infrastructure in all classrooms, upgraded equipment in laboratories, vouchers for acquiring technological tools for students, Robotics and STEM), the modernization of infrastructure and curricula, standard vocational education and training in new skills, teacher training, large research programs in universities and the creation of quality jobs for young scientists “.

In conclusion, “we are creating a better public school with universal two-year preschool education from 4 years for all children throughout Greece, English in all kindergartens, over 160 new, modern curricula in all grades from Kindergarten to and the Lyceum, doubling of Model – Experimental Schools, 16,200 appointments of permanent teachers for the first time after 12 years, creation of 1,100 organic positions of psychologists & social workers in schools for the first time, real evaluation of schools and teachers, “Skills Workshops” in all Kindergartens, Primary and Secondary Schools of the country with courses such as robotics, road safety, respect for others, sex education, 125,000 teacher training for the first time in 10 years and inclusion of students with disabilities and refugees in schools (with enrollment of 95% of minor refugees) .

In a rapidly changing world with many uncertainties but also great challenges, it is an urgent social and political issue for the younger generations to be able to acquire the cognitive resources to live better than the previous ones. In short, we need to put the elevator of social uplift and equal opportunities back into operation by strengthening and protecting the public school. “The great social majority of progress wants it and the historical conjuncture demands it”, he emphasizes in closing.

Source: Capital

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