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Despite repeated warnings from teachers and education officials and continuous reporting from esos every year, the Ministry of Education has not yet enacted legislation to amend the method of calculating the average for promotion and dismissal in General High Schools.
Thus, the current system will continue to be implemented in the 2026-2027 school year, which allows students to be promoted to the next grade or even obtain a high school diploma, despite having scores below the base in most core subjects.
This system was first implemented in 2022, based on the amending provisions adopted in 2019, and has remained unchanged since then.
High school teachers and principals find every year that the algorithm for calculating the general average leads to results that, as they claim, devalue the educational process and the importance of basic cognitive subjects, despite the fact that the General High School diploma was presented as “upgraded”.
The phenomenon had not become apparent during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years , as due to the pandemic, promotional and graduation exams were not held and students were promoted based on their oral scores.
Since the 2021-22 school year, with the reinstatement of exams, oral scores have been influenced by students’ performance in written exams, resulting in the distortions of the current system being highlighted.
Indicative examples
According to data cited by teachers, a 3rd grade high school student can receive a diploma with an overall grade of 11.7, despite showing low performance in a number of core subjects.
In another typical case, a student who scores a grade of 8 in Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Ancient Greek, Literature and Modern Greek Language, but a grade of 12 in Physical Education, English and Religious Studies, forms an average of 10 and is normally promoted to the next grade.
Accordingly, a 1st year high school student with twelve subjects graded from 5 to 9, eight subjects with grades from 10 to 12, and a grade of 18 in Physical Education can be promoted with an overall average of 10.
Furthermore, there are cases of students being promoted with an overall grade of 11.8, even though their performance in seven subjects ranges from 5.5 to 8.4.
The issue is expected to return to public debate in the new school year, as educational circles are calling for a revision of the average calculation system, so as to give greater weight to core subjects and avoid the phenomena of promoting or dismissing students with performance that is far below the baseline.
You can have your own examples, assigning points yourself.
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