Filenews 3 May 2022 - by Dora Christodoulou
A group of students of the A' Lyceum of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering of the Technical School of Pafos, won the second place in the National Final of the International Competition, which was organized by Frederick University in collaboration with the European Network of Universities EU – CONEXUS on the subject "Think smartly – Create green". The competition motivated students aged 14-16 to develop a model of a sustainable building or smart harbour for their city. The students of TESEK Paphos redesigned the Pafos marina through minecraftschooledition and created a high quality model of a sustainable green and technologically advanced marina.
According to the children of Techniki and their work, the smart marina includes smart parking spaces, smartlight on the pedestrian streets and on the main public road. In addition, through this design, visitors are given the opportunity to move within the marina with electric vehicles and bicycles. In order to raise public awareness and create ecological consciousness, a climate clock was constructed with recyclable materials that shows the time remaining until the destruction of the environment, if man continues to destroy it recklessly. Finally, the form of the dock of the port was designed to resemble a green leaf that represents life, when the seabed is clean, while it turns into a brown herringbone when it is polluted.
In the green marina the operation of all buildings is based on renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind turbines, say the children of the Technical School of Paphos. The buildings in the sea area are based on floating structures. The breakwaters include a system of self-cleaning of the water inside the marina, but also special water quality control facilities outside the marina for quick treatment of accidental cases of elimination of pollutants of ships.
In addition, the port has special units for the treatment of ship's waste for the creation of sediments, heating oil and irrigation water. Similarly, for restaurant waste, special units have been built for the treatment and production of fertilizers and biogas. For the management of the accumulation of seaweed of the port have been created special areas of natural processing for fertilizer production and small crafts for the preparation of aesthetic products. As for household waste, there are places for the collection of recyclable materials.
The achievement of the children represents team hard work, ingenuity and ingenuity, while at the same time it offers innovative ideas to the competent bodies for the future construction of the expected Pafos marina. The competition was attended by the students of the Technical School of Pafos, Ioannis Georgiou, Ioannis Argyridis, Krasimira Kyriakidou and Svetlina Angelova, under the guidance of teachers Kalliopi Georgios Zacharias and Evi Iliadis.
The specific success of the school is not an isolated incident or "lightning in the sky", the educational institutions of the place say. On the contrary, the Technical School of Pafos has achieved leaps of progress that exceed all expectations in recent years, since the official data show that the number of students attending Technical Education in Paphos has increased by 37%, while at the same time the number of students who succeed in the Pancyprian examinations has increased significantly.
Speaking to "F", the Director of the Technical School of Pafos, Akis Ilias, pointed out that for seven consecutive years the introductory course program is implemented for students of the first year of practical direction. The aim of these courses is, first and foremost, to enhance the students' self-confidence, but also to improve their basic knowledge, he explained.
Students' progress in full swing
"The results, after analyzing the data and comparing the original diagnostic test with the final one, show the evolutionary progress of the students, which is on average around 42%", Mr. Elias pointed out. "In addition, in cooperation with the Direct Intervention Team of the Ministry of Education and a special partner, specialized assistance is provided to twelve students annually, who are in need of assistance due to special criteria.
Students' enrolments at the school, their absences, exams and complaints are recorded electronically. The electronic recording of absences provides the opportunity to the school for immediate information of parents. At the same time, it is possible to check and keep statistics, so that we can act immediately to improve the procedures for the benefit of the students.
Mr. Ilias stressed that cooperation, the cultivation of responsibility, positive thinking and, above all, the immediate resolution of the problems, are the main axes in which the people of the Pafos Technical School are working for the drastic improvement of the situation in recent years.
"From the beginning, clear goals are set, but mainly the actions and actions that we will take are planned in order to achieve the goals we set," he says. "To achieve the goals, we carry out specific actions and actions through the working groups and follow specific timetables. The problems we face every day are many and difficult. But that is precisely our advantage. In other words, difficulties are for us golden opportunities for improvement and growth."
Success is also recorded numerically
The successes of the Technical School of Pafos and the change in its treatment by the educational community of the province are now recorded numerically: For the umpteenth time in recent years in Paphos, the demand for attendance at the city's Technical School far exceeds the available places offered. Proving in the most emphatic way once again the necessity of the immediate construction of a second Technical School in Paphos, 90 students of the Third Gymnasium who expressed their intention to study in The Technique in the Lyceum Cycle, could not do so even during this school year.
Speaking to "F", the MP of Pafos and vice-president of the Education Committee of the Parliament, Chrysanthos Savvidis, stressed that he was informed that of the 317 students of the third gymnasium, who expressed interest in attending technical education, only 227 were able to enrol, due to filling positions.
"Unfortunately, the remaining 90 children had to make other choices, as there is no second Technical School in our city", denounces Mr. Savvidis. "A request that is dated and postponed from year to year, which is why the Education Committee of the Parliament met recently in Paphos and discussed the issue, with the aim of providing a solution."
The MP of Pafos of DIKO called once again the Ministry of Education to immediately initiate the procedures for the creation of a new Technical School in Paphos.
