Some schools received these progress reports on Tuesday. These progress reports must be filled out and given to the students along with their old report book on August 15th. The principals of the nation’s schools are puzzles by the fact that the Education Ministry distributed the progress reports at the last minute even though the free flow policy has been scrapped. They explained that the progress report consists of more than 50 questions which the teachers must answer carefully and that this increases the workload. “I wonder how we are going to get the work done within a few days with classes that consist of 36 students each,” said a teacher. Several teachers explained that the progress reports will only cause confusion among the students and their parents.

“We were told that the progress reports would be scrapped  but suddenly we were confronted with them and the fact that they must be handed out by next Friday,”, said another teacher. The teachers and the school principals explained that they get the impression that the Education Ministry is formulating, implementing and changing policies at random because it is not the first time that the ministry gave instructions only to make a U-turn and give other ones at the very last minute. A teacher pointed out that “it seems as if the ministry has been experimenting with the education since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many teachers hope that the new minister of Education who was recently sworn in will improve the education system but made it clear that they also want to have a say when it comes to making decisions that could have a huge impact on the education system. They no longer want the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture to only make one-sided decisions which they have to carry out. “We are the ones who are in the field every day so we actually see and know which problems students face.”