Students, teachers to be educated on e-learning methods

The first classes to be offered to primary and middle school students once back at school will focus on distance learning as a method of education, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou said Tuesday.

Ongoing efforts are also being made to train teachers on e-learning methods, with around 3,000 teachers, mostly in primary education, so far having completed the course offered by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute.

The announcement comes a day after Prodromou announced that the government will be moving to enshrine e-learning education in law, utilizing the tools the education sector was forced to learn amid the pandemic.

Prodromou also said arrangements will be made for public sector employees who will need to pick up their children from school, which will be operating with a differentiated schedule.

“At the same time, we will be calling for similar arrangements to be made for private sector employees.”

Though high school seniors have been going to school since May 11, initial government plans saw the return of all remaining grades on Thursday, when the second phase of the lifting of restriction measures comes into effect.

But Prodromou announced a change of plans last week. Just primary and middle school students will be returning to school classrooms, separated into two groups that will attend school on a weekly rotational basis.

The first and second grades of secondary school will continue their education through e-learning, while kindergarten and pre-school students will sit out the rest of the academic year.

A government-funded round of 20,000 coronavirus tests is currently ongoing, targeting schools – students and staff – islandwide.