Education is the most effective defence against the global financial crisis, House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou has said.
Omirou who was addressing the graduation ceremony of University of Cyprus on Wednesday evening noted that particularly in a country such as Cyprus, which is under Turkish military occupation for 38 years, education should maintain the will to liberate the country and restore human rights and freedoms for all legal residents of Cyprus.
He further noted that in today’s world of technological change, of the multitude of knowledge and information and of an unregulated and at times inhumane globalization, education constitutes a stable, unchanged and utmost gift which humanizes societies and forges informal ties between people, cultivating spiritual growth and serving timeless principles and values.
The global financial crisis, Omirou added, brings to mind the insanity of uncontrollable power, wealth concentration, political, press and military authority, as well as of the power which answers to no one, where citizens become marginalized, weak and manipulated by misinformation, fear or even force.
He expressed the point of view that Cyprus is at a crossroads as regards the educational direction which will define the future of its education system.
Omirou highlighted the fact education as a field is constantly faced with new challenges within the opposing atmosphere created by globalization on the one hand and the resistance of the state – nation on the other.
It is necessary, he said to develop a national, democratic dialogue away from populist fanfares and stereotypes in order to adopt policies which will raise education high within Cypriot society, in a position befitting it.
Educational growth in numbers must go hand in hand with a growth in quality, answering to the needs of a new era, respecting history, culture and national origin whilst at the same time undergoing reform and modernization, Omirou added.
Societies who are increasingly involved in an integrated EU ought to cultivate their national characteristics together with the principles of multinational collectivity, multicultural action, multiracial tolerance and cooperation, he said.
