Leaders to cross swords over education
A second bout between the government and the opposition after last week’s acrimonious exchanges is expected to take place on Wednesday in Parliament, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras cross swords over a new education bill.
It remains to be seen whether the level of confrontation will drop after Mitsotakis’ assurances last week that his government will see out its four-year term in office, or whether the country is due for a protracted period of polarization.
What is certain, however, is that Mitsotakis is not coming to Parliament in the mood for a scrap. Rather, his central aim will be to highlight how the government’s bill will upgrade public education with key interventions.
The first concerns the modernization of curricula, which includes important innovations such as the introduction of the “domestic Erasmus.”
The second seeks to enhance the functionality and efficiency of institutions of higher education by implementing a new model of governance.
The bill also aims at the modernization of DOATAP, the agency responsible for recognizing degrees from foreign institutions, with a new framework for its organization and operation, aimed at simplifying the process of academic recognition of qualifications.
Changes to the way university rectors are elected are expected to be a central point of debate between the government and the opposition.
The prevailing view in the government is that rectors are opposed because they essentially stand to lose privileges, something that does not concern the entire academic community.
Moreover, a recent survey shows broad agreement of respondents with the basic legislative regulations being promoted by the Education Ministry for higher education.
