Unaltered spirit

While cabinet ministers have changed, the government's spirit remains unchanged in education. The coalition administration seems set on bringing back or reviving recipes which repeatedly proved disastrous in the past: From setting a grade of 8 as a pass mark for major courses to the so-called "eternal students," and now the reintroduction of student councils which will have a say in how schools operate.

All of this comes under the guise of democratization and decentralization of responsibility, but in reality it promotes the development of new breeds of "leftist" officials while further undermining directors' power. A prime minister did emerge from student councils, but so did major ignorance.