Education minister’s “micromanagement” under fire

Government orders from the Ministry of Education are becoming increasingly common, and that is unacceptable, according to the Headmasters’ Association.

The association says that introducing sudden changes in the school system without consulting with teachers and schools amounts to direct micromanagement of public schools.

Recent examples of this are the introduction of German language as an admission requirement for the economics and arts branches in secondary schools and an extension of primary-school summer holidays.

Major changes – no extra funding

”It seems as if our education ministers issue government orders based on their own personal interests without considering the consequences,” says Tom Joensen, chairman of the Headmasters’ Association (Skúlaleiðarafelag Føroya).

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Some of the recent changes have been introduced as government orders rather than government Acts. The difference is that a government order does not need to go through Parliament in order to come into force.

 “These changes have caught the country’s schools totally off guard, and now we are being forced to make fundamental changes to our system without being given any extra funding. This is an impossible situation.”

Translated by prosa.fo