Manos Vularinos writes about the closed schools due to the “compulsory participation of teachers in a meeting” during school hours.
Today some schools in Athens are closed. I don’t know how many and I don’t know if they are only in Athens, but I know they are closed because of her “compulsory participation of teachers in a workshop (8.30 – 13.15) organized by the Education consultant”. At least that’s what the message he received from the elementary school to which a friend sends his child, who asked me in amazement “is it possible to keep schools closed to train teachers?”
The man is not an immigrant from another country, he was born here and raised here, so you understand that his question is rhetorical. He also knows very well that he lives and raises children in a country where schools are closed for “educational” reasons and I suspect he knows the reason as well (we both assume that the day is educational, although in Greece this is not certain either).
Teachers are professionals who have absolutely no practical reason to get better at their jobs. Neither their salary, nor their place of work, nor much less their work itself, depends on their ability to do their job properly. The worst teacher who works for 20 years has exactly the same earnings as the best teacher who works for 20 years. The worst teacher will stay at his job exactly as many years as the best. He has no reason (other than his personal desire) to educate himself and do whatever will make him better at his job. Which means that any training is an unnecessary chore for him.
The problem is that this is how the Ministry of Education perceives it. As a chore which as such can only be done during school hours. That’s why, instead of defining the “day” for a day and time that doesn’t create a problem in school operations (and in the lives of parents who don’t have the money to send their children to a good private school), he puts it in the place of lessons. Don’t let a teacher work a few extra hours a day to learn something that can help them do their job better.
Of course this attitude does an injustice (and will probably anger) those teachers who want to be the best they can be even if they have no motivation other than their love for their job. Those who didn’t become teachers because they were brought by misfortune (of the children who suffer mainly from them) but because they wanted it and still want it. But this is the fate of good employees. To see governments rewarding their lazy and useless colleagues, always subject to their whims. And good for them.
PS Of course, there is the case that meetings like today are objectively a waste of time and are only held so that the minister can refer to them in a panel or in the Parliament. In other words, they should not serve educational but communication needs, so if it is for the minister’s needs, let him attend a lesson for a day. Will Sambo be the first or the last to be lost because the country is the paradise of sloppiness?
