Reforming education

This country has had bitter experiences with successive governments making repeated reforms to the national education system that eventually prove to be misguided and ineffective in practice.

That said, the idea of establishing a compulsory four-year high school and an optional two-year senior high school that is said to be in the mind of left-wing Education Minister Nikos Filis, should not be rejected out of hand.

However, given the fact that the source of the country’s education ills lies in its dysfunctional secondary education, the ministry must make sure that any students wishing to continue to senior high must first go through a meaningful examination process. This exam must serve as a filter for those who really have what it takes for university.

All this is not just a matter of the minister’s good will, of course. It would take serious changes in terms of procedure, as well as of the mentality of the officials involved in the process.