Editorial: Reforming the educational system

Today’s report on education in Ta Nea presents some revealing and disturning data.

One in three General Lyceum (senior high school) graduates who were university applicants last year would not have gained admission if the minimum grade were that which the education ministry is planning to establish.

Certainly we are in the midst of a pandemic that poses a great challenge, but based on the data presented one can safely surmise that there is a pressing need to upgrade tertiary education.

That must be accompanied by efforts to improve all levels of the educational system.

Schools can no longer function exclusively as a tutoring centre for university entrance exams nor should universities be downgraded to the lowest common denominator by admitting students lacking in basic knowledge and skills.

From that vantage point the changes being introduced in tertiary education are in the right direction.

Our report highlights the necessary shifts and reforms to create an educational system that is in tune with contemporary realities, that produces graduates with solid academic training, and that makes the university a place for research and knowledge and is linked with the market and the new division of labour.

It is, to say the least, sad that in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Artificial Intelligence we are talking about university faculties where students in certain instances turn in their exam booklet with only a “blank page” and make a minimum effort and about universities from which students graduate without the tools and equipment needed to deal with their own future and society’s.

Let us change!