Original title: History is redundant and not necessary: 3aev’s shocking stance, teachers who will lose their jobs are irrelevant
On December 21st, 2020, the Infomax portal published an article titled History is redundant and not necessary: Shocking stance of 3aev, teachers who will lose their jobs are irrelevant.
The content of the text refers to the statement of the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev from the press conference on 21.12.2020, conveying correctly only a part of it, but still concludes that allegedly Zaev continues to shock the Macedonian public with his policies by emphasizing that the merger the subjects in schools are used to remove from education that are irrelevant and redundant. Additionally, Zaev allegedly sent a message to the teachers that it does not matter that some of them may lose their jobs, but that the students are important.
The author of the text completely distorts the statement, i.e., the answer of Zaev to a journalist question about the education reforms. According to the spun statement, it also carries the title with which it “deceives” readers and encourages dissatisfaction and mistrust in the education system, as well as in the Government institutions in general.
Regarding the reforms in education, we integrally convey Zaev’s answer at the press conference (01:01:50):
“In the field of education, I have commented several times, we must continue with the reforms, a new time is emerging, a modern time of digitalization, and modernization, we all say that reforms in primary education are necessary, they started during the time of Minister Deskoska and the previous Minister Arber Ademi, now Minister Carovska continues, in such circumstances what is presented to the public is a model on which we will open debates. Debates are already starting to be organized, inside the Government in the institutions themselves, outside the Government itself and so on. Let us not forget first that education exists for the sake of students. That part of the debate where I see affected teachers being caught will have to excuse me, because education exists for the sake of students. Our intention is not to abolish history, geography, biology, physics. Fusion means efficiency, reduction of teaching contents which are redundant and do not need them, with the ultimate goal of gaining additional opportunity for social activities within the school period of the day, i.e., the period when children spend in schools, and we guarantee the children’s life and give really a lot of social content that will affect the development of the character of each child. Once again, we said, we are not in a hurry with this work, it is important, we should start it an hour sooner but we will listen carefully from all that indicate certain changes, suggestions or the like. Here is the expert public, here are our universities, here are the teachers, professors, teachers, but of course the professional services of the Ministry of Education, the Bureau for Development of Education, the pedagogical service, and all other institutions relevant and important for this issue.”
It is obvious that the author draws his own conclusion which he bases by twisting what Zaev states in his answer. So, he attributes his conclusion as a “shocking attitude” of Zaev, in order to manipulate the public and incite dissatisfaction and mistrust in the institutions of the system. Zaev does not say that history is redundant and unnecessary, nor can it be concluded from the statement that the teachers who will lose their jobs are irrelevant to him.
The Minister of Education, Mila Carovska, in order to respond to the reactions from the public caused as a result of the disinformation circulating in the media space and on social networks, gives explanations about what the upcoming reforms mean, and about unnecessary care among the citizens.
Integrated subjects are not a novelty in education in the world, nor in our education system (such an example is the subject of natural sciences up to the sixth grade). Numerous studies show that integrated curricula help students to understand the connections between different natural and/or social phenomena, to connect what they learn with everyday life and to develop lifelong learning skills.
Integrated curricula do not mean poor teaching, but on the contrary have a positive impact on student achievement and allow them to use what has been learned outside the boundaries of a particular subject, to use their knowledge creatively and to develop critical thinking and effective learning strategies.
All teachers remain at work because the total number of hours in the curriculum has not been reduced.
Twisting/distortion is used as a disinformation technique when someone does not like the facts. Citizens are confused by this “information” and are easily misled into believing what they will read, without checking its accuracy.
