07-08-16 Education ministry defends substitute hiring procedures

The parliamentary question for the education minister tabled by New Democracy MPs Theodoros Fortsakis qnd Dora Bakoyannis, regarding the procedure for judging the relevancy of graduate degrees [for assignment to related teaching posts] is obviously inspired by a mentality of  “bygone eras”.

One wonders, is this simply a tremendous gaffe motivated by petty partisan exploitation of every trade union protest, or is it a case of dangerous ignorance on the part of these top ND MPs regarding the hiring process of personnel in the field of education?

New Democracy maintains that there is a bias, on the part of the education ministry, against special education personnel, because their degrees will be judged, in accordance with the law, by the competent committee of the Institute of Educational Policy. In addition, the question cites decisions regarding the relevancy of graduate degrees that were taken with summary procedures, in past eras, when “everything was allowed” and the bureaucracy acted as it wished.

Does New Democracy not know that, for the first time in the educational history of our country, substitute teachers will be hired under the review and approval of ASEP (the independent state hiring authority)?  Obviously it has not escaped their attention, since everyone knows that it is the SYRIZA government that for the first time is implementing the constitutional requirement [for ASEP hiring] that exists since 2001, which successive Pasok and New Democracy governments refused to implement for 16 years. Simply, New Democracy believes it is self-evident that, even under the meritocratic and legal manner with which the procedure is being implemented, the practices of the past could be repeated.

The committee of the Institute of Educational policy was established by ministerial decision on June 29, 2016, so that “the judgment of the relevance of degrees of all educators, and in particular of the specialised personnel working for special education (EAE) structures, will take place in a uniform, meritocratic, and academically documented manner”, and the committee is comprised of academic staff from all specialisations, who have experience and increased academic qualifications.  

At the office of the education minister, there is a host of complaints from substitutes from the “Special Education Personnel” field which criticise the former system of evaluating graduate degree relevance, because there were divergent evaluations by older administrative councils regarding the same academic degrees.

What exactly are the New Democracy MPs who tabled the question demanding? Do they want the ministers to intervene in the work of the committee of the Institute of Educational Policy, so as to jeopardise the whole process and the substitutes themselves, or even worse to replace ASEP?

It is more than obvious that New Democracy, which in its rhetoric supports excellence, is nostalgic for that “bygone era” of trade union and clientelistic arrangements, and it does not hide this.

It does not hesitate to exploit any protest so as to criticise the government and reap partisan benefits.  We rarely have the opportunity to see such an unfortunate approach - and indeed from MPs of the caliber of Mr. Fortsakis and Mrs. Bakoyannis -  which on the one hand exploits the anxiety of employees and on the other slams the education ministry for upholding the principles of meritocracy and legality.