KDH: Minister Drucker Bringing Chaos and Bureaucracy to Education System

Bratislava, 13 July (TASR) - The Christian Democrats (KDH) have criticised legislative measures taken by the Education Ministry, describing the proposals, which the ministry submitted for inter-ministerial review between 18 June and early July, as "yet another shot fired without warning". KDH vice-chairman Jan Horecky stated at a press conference on Monday that, instead of genuine support, the state is unleashing a third wave of arrogance and making work and life in the education sector more difficult. The party warns of a dangerous trend toward centralisation and the strengthening of state and political power at the expense of parents and experts. The changes interfere with the current system by, for example, no longer requiring informed parental consent when educational activities are carried out directly by a state agency. The KDH vice-chairman criticises the atmosphere and philosophy that the ministry is fostering through its actions, pointing, for example, to the mandatory presence of an inspector during the assessment of a student in home schooling, as well as the mandatory re-evaluation of all students with intellectual disabilities, regardless of any individualised approach. According to Horecky, these changes "aren't a reform at all, but rather deepening chaos and an anti-reform burden in the form of bureaucracy and micromanagement, which robs teachers of their time and makes their work discouraging". Schools, as the former education minister asserts, will be burdened with new formal obligations, such as publishing the minutes of the pedagogical council, the school board, and the student council. am