For «complete distortion of the institution of scholarships for students belonging to vulnerable social groups»blame the government and the Ministry of Education, 50 MPs of SYRIZA-PS.
With a question submitted, following an initiative of the Ministers of Education Nikos Phili and Meropis Tzoufi, asking the Minister of Education to explain the reasons for the change in the grading criteria.
As they report: «the scholarships were intended for vulnerable groups of students on the basis of specific social criteria, are converted into custody scholarships, changing the philosophy of the Programme and not caring about the future of students who face greater difficulties in continuing their studies».
The MPs of SYRIZA-PS point out that the «Financial Support Programme for Independent Students belonging to Vulnerable Social Groups (ESO)» was launched in 2018, aiming at thesupport for students with family incomes not exceeding €7,500. There were also criteria to ensure that the candidates were active students (e.g.: have successfully completed 60% of the previous year's course).
In this context, they ask the Niki Kerameos explain why the notice of the ICI, which was issued two years late, was not issued, eliminates all social criteria and nullifies the philosophy of this programme.
At the same time, they call for the immediate restoration of the institution to continue to support those for whom it was designed. That is, the diligent students belonging to vulnerable social groups.
The question of the 50 MPs of SYRIZA-PS:
«The government hits the most vulnerable students and completely distorts the philosophy of the Financial Assistance Programme for Dependent Students belonging to Vulnerable Social Groups (FSG) by changing the conditions for the selection and awarding of the undergraduate scholarships of the programme by the ICF»
The State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) announced on 24-Jan-2022, the «Financial Support Programme for students from vulnerable social groups (ESO)» for the year 2019-2020.The programme was launched under the SYRIZA government and is co-funded by national resources and the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020». This programme contributes to making it easier for people in need of financial support to attend school.
The previous announcement was made in the autumn of 2019 for the 2018-2019 academic year. It took two and a half years for the new announcement to be made. So there was already a huge delay in the announcement of the current cycle of the programme. This time gap will certainly have an impact on the attendance of the potential beneficiaries as it has deprived them of the aid they would have otherwise received.
But even more important is the radical change that has been made to the marking procedure. Until the previous announcement, students whose family income did not exceed 7,500 euros were eligible to join the programme, and then the awarding of points was based on financial and social criteria in order for the programme to support those who needed it most. In this context, the role of the academic criteria (e.g.: the requirement that the beneficiaries had not exceeded the time limit of semesters of study provided for by the Study Regulations and had successfully completed 60% of the previous year's courses) was to ensure that the beneficiaries were active students.
On the contrary, in this year's call for applications, marking is based exclusively on academic performance criteria: the percentage of completion of academic obligations, the average grade point average in compulsory courses and the admission grade. As for the social criteria, which also indicate how vulnerable the candidate is, these simply allow candidates to apply with an income 1 000 to 2 000 euros higher than those who do not meet the social criteria.
The new way of marking completely distorts the philosophy of the programme, which was intended to support the most disadvantaged. For example, a student with an income of €7,000 per month and good academic performance receives more points than a student with the same income but with lower performance, but who is also a member of a single parent family, an orphan of both parents or a disabled person with a disability rate of 67%.
In other words, the social criteria are effectively eliminated in favour of the «diligence» criteria, despite the fact that the aim of the programme is not to reward diligent students but to provide support to those who face greater difficulties in continuing their studies. It is now obvious that the form that this scholarship is taking is not in line with the purposes for which it was designed and approved by the European Commission and is contrary to the spirit and letter of the Call for proposals itself.
In the light of the above, will the Minister responsible be asked:
1. Why did the ICF take so long to announce the new round of scholarships?;
2. How does it justify the complete overriding of the diligence criteria over the social criteria?;
3. Does it intend to take the necessary steps, as regards the terms of the notice, to restore the reason for the existence of these scholarships, which is to support diligent students belonging to vulnerable social groups and even more so those who are most vulnerable due to their economic and social living conditions? If so, which ones?;
4. In view of the completion of the current funding cycle, has it been planned and promoted to continue funding the Financial Assistance Programme for Independent Students belonging to Vulnerable Social Groups using the resources of the new funding period NSRF 2021-2017?;
The questioning MPs
Nikos Filis
Tzoufi Meropi
Avramakis Lefteris
Alexiadis Tryfon
Yannis Amanatidis
Anagnostopoulou Sia
Alexandros Avlonitis
Vagena Anna
Vardakis Socrates
George Varemenos
Vassilikos Vassilis
Vetta Kalliopi
Giolas Giannis
Dritsas Thodoris
Zabeck Hussein
Costas Zouraris
Nikos Igoumenides
Manolis Thrapsaniotis
Dionysis Kalamatianos
Katsis Marios
Kafantari Chara
Lappas Spyros
Malama Sunday
Mamoulakis Haris
Costas Markou
Meikopoulos Alexandros
Michaelides Andreas
Mouzalas Yannis
Barcas Kostas
Moraitis Thanos
Notopoulou Katerina
Xenogiannakopoulou Mariliza
Papadopoulos Sakis
Papailiou George
Papanatsiou Katerina
Perch Theopisti
Poulou Yiota
Santarinios Nektarios
Sarakiotis Yannis
Panos Skourletis
Panos Skouroliakos
Syralenios Nikos
Olympia Teligioridou
Tolkass Angelos
Triantafyllidis Alexandros
Famellos Socrates
Fotiou Theano
Haritou Dimitris
Christidou Rallia
George Psychogios»
