Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday visited the education, religions and sports ministry, where he chaired a meeting with the ministry's leadership. He was received by Education, Religions and Sports Minister Sofia Zacharaki.
In statements at the meeting, the prime minister referred to teacher evaluations, noting that this was "a new process that has not yet brought the expected results."
"On this point I want to be very clear, especially for that category of teachers who refuse to be evaluated as a matter of principle. The clearcut direction I have given to the ministry is very clear: If someone refuses on principle to be evaluated, they should have no place in the public education system," he stressed.
The prime minister said that proposals for a reasonable reduction of the curriculum were being examined, saying there was a need to more closely examine both the quality and quantity of material included in the curriculum.
"I was pleased to hear that proposals by the Institute for Educational Policy are being examined for a judicious reduction of the curriculum so that we give greater emphasis to quality and not quantity," he said.
Mitsotakis said his visit had also touched on the issue of vocational orientation, which concerned both parents and children, and how children could be helped at a younger age, possibly at the end of the middle school.
"Year 3 of the [middle school] is perhaps the right time to identify their leanings, their skills and interests, in order to direct them toward their academic but also professional future," Mitsotakis said.
The rpime minister also referred to the government's policies to counter bullying, such as the stopbullying platform that had already produced the first quantifiable results, and the support to schools that allow differentiation in education.
"The Model Schools, the Experimental Schools and of course the Public Onassis Schools will have exams next weekend, an important innovation with the funding of the Onassis Foundation for a new type of public school, from which we truly expect many useful lessons on how we can enrich the overall operation of our schools. I would also like to highlight the important initiative, the Marietta Giannakou programme for the upgrading of over 600 schools, the first of which will be delivered to students and teachers in September of this year. Therefore, there is much that has been done, but also much more that needs to be done," the Prime Minister emphasised.