Fears for north’s school safety ahead of new academic year

Trade unions in the north have raised the alarm over potentially unsafe school buildings, weeks before the academic year is set to begin.

Concerns were initially raised following the devastating earthquakes which hit Turkey back in February. Parents and teachers at the time highlighted their fears that school buildings could collapse should a similar earthquake hit Cyprus.

The north’s ‘education ministry’ reacted by signing a protocol with the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of civil engineers (IMO) to inspect and examine school buildings and discovered that a number of them were unsafe.

As a result, two schools, the Namik Kemal high school in Famagusta and the Cumhuriyet high school in Trikomo, began conducting lessons in tents supplied by the Turkish army. This caused further outrage among parents and teachers, especially when it began to rain.

A total of nine schools were declared “heavily damaged” by the IMO. Those included the two aforementioned, as well as the primary schools of Dikomo, Kythrea, Gypsou, and the Karakol district of Famagusta, as well as the Dr Fazil Kucuk industrial vocational high school in Famagusta, the Morphou vocational high school, and the Gialousa high school.

Last week, the north’s ‘government’ moved to protect renovation work against exchange rate fluctuations by signing into law a new decree, but unions argue this is too little too late, especially with the new academic year on the horizon.

“It seems we will open schools in the same state we closed them [at the end of the last academic year]. We will be taking lessons on all kinds of building sites, in tents, and in portacabins, and the ministry is responsible,” said Burak Mavis, general secretary of the Cyprus Turkish teachers’ union (KTOS).

Mavis urged the government to move quicker with its evaluations regarding the allocation of building materials to repair and renovate school buildings, warning that if more time is lost, it will be impossible to complete the required works before schools are due to reopen.

“We expect that care will be taken to eliminate the inequalities that will occur in schools, as well as financial attention shown to the new law. Nazim [Cavusoglu, the north’s ‘education minister’] deemed education in tents worthy of our students, we hope he has now faced the facts,” he said.

“We expect the ministry to work around the clock to make sure the reinforced concrete improvements are made safely and pupils move from portacabin classrooms to proper education environments.”

Selma Eylem, chairwoman of the Cyprus Turkish secondary education teachers’ union (KTOEOS) was less optimistic.

She said no work at all has been done to bring schools up to the required safety standards, and criticised Nazim Cavusoglu for perceived inaction on the matter.

Cavusoglu had earlier said works had been delayed as the IMO’s reports had not all been completed, but Eylem said studies of the schools can take place without the reports being ready.

She added that given the fact that the reports are not all ready, and that when they are a tender process for the works will be conducted, and then the works will take time, it is “not possible” for the required works to take place before the academic year begins.

In addition, she said the union will “use all its rights of action” regarding the issue.

In a separate statement, the KTOEOS also claimed that €150 million had been spent on renovations and earthquake protections in schools in the Republic over the same period, and asked Cavusoglu “why didn’t you take a single step in the north?”. They also called on him to resign.

Despite the unions’ frustrations, some small moves have been made regarding schools in the north. On Monday, foundations were laid for a new building at the primary school in Ayios Epiktitos.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Cavusoglu, as well as Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the mayor of Ayios Epiktitos and Ayios Amvrosios Ceyhun Kirok.

Cavusoglu did not directly address the unions in his ceremony, but did say his ‘ministry’ aims to strengthen the north’s schools against earthquakes while also dealing with issues such as overcrowding in classrooms.