Parents concern about dangerous schools in the north

Amidst parents’ concerns over school infrastructure in the north, students of a specific high school decided to abstain until a seismic resistance report is prepared, TC media reported on Friday.

The Namik Kemal high school in the non-government-controlled area of Famagusta has been deemed dangerous, parents said, and together with their children decided to abstain from classes until the school building is repaired and the seismic resistance report is prepared, Diyalogue reported.

Following the decision of the parents’ association of the high school in question for a three-day abstention, the publication added that parents of the Karakol primary school also in Famagusta and the primary school in the occupied village of Limnia were up in arms.

Parents told the newspaper that there are cracks in the columns of the Karakol school building and that they live in fear of the earthquake, noting “we are very worried about the children.”

Meanwhile, the parents’ association of the primary school in Limnia village in the north said in a statement that they are discussing whether or not to send the children to school.

A team of 200 people was set up with the cooperation of the “Ministry of Education” and the TC Chamber of Architects which in 10 days will examine all the buildings, but “we all know that in our country there is no guarantee that this process will not be prolonged,” the parents said.

The reason for concern is that the balcony of the first canteen of the 50-year-old school has no columns and has never been tested for its seismic resistance, they explained.

The Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris also reported that several parents at the high school in Lefkoniko also expressed their concerns and fear about the condition of the building and students collected signatures asking the “education ministry” to examine the seismic resistance of the school building.

On the same issue, the teachers’ association in the north said that of the 112 primary schools under the ‘education ministry’, ten were built after 1999, eight were built in the period 1974-1999, while 89 buildings were built before 1974.

Some 80 per cent of the existing primary schools were built before 1974 and are outside of seismic measures, said Mustafa Baibora, the head of the association.

In his own statements, Ozan Elmaly, head of the professors’ association recalled that the majority of school buildings were constructed before 1974, noting that the unsuitable condition of the school units is visible to the naked eye.