Anger as ‘mother’ and ‘father’ removed from school form

A questionnaire issued by the education ministry’s school medical services has caused concern among parents for replacing the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ with ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’, the House education committee heard on Wednesday.

Committee chairman Pavlos Mylonas demanded explanations from the ministry regarding the rationale behind the wording on a questionnaire sent to students about their general health.

According to daily Politis, other committee members also expressed strong opposition, questioning the regulatory basis for the decision and why such terms were adopted in place of the traditional designations of mother and father.

The questionnaire, published by Politis says “the health ministry, through its school medical services, is responsible for the collection, storage, and processing of the information and data obtained through this form.

“The data will be collected, processed, and retained solely for the purposes stated above, and its security will be ensured by implementing all necessary technical and organisational measures, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679,” the questionnaire said.

The ministry has yet to provide a formal response to the issues raised during the committee meeting.