Schools in north are chaotic says TC teaching union

A Turkish Cypriot teachers’ trade union refused to sign a working calendar contract with the north’s ‘education ministry’ on Wednesday, releasing a statement of disgust at the current state of affairs in Turkish Cypriot schools.

In a statement released by its organising secretary Akgun Kacmaz, the Cyprus Turkish teachers’ union (KTOS) said the north’s ‘education ministry’ had “created chaos in the education sector last year, and will do the same again in the next one”.

Kacmaz listed the problems currently faced by Turkish Cypriot schools. He listed issues such as the physical safety of school buildings, and the lack of initiative taken regarding the ever increasing number of “foreign” pupils in schools who do not speak Turkish and students with special needs.

“The most basic physical needs such as general maintenance and repair of school buildings, renovating and increasing the number of teacher and student toilets, renovating classrooms, and arranging school yards in a safe manner, have not been met,” he said.

“No solution has been suggested for the increasing population of schools and overcrowded classrooms which negatively impact the quality of education.”

Additionally, he said the ‘ministry’ has allotted no money “to meet basic expenses such as cleaning”, and that janitors have not been hired to clean the schools.

To this end, he claims the ‘ministry’ “wants to allow private companies to exploit public schools and for the schools to open unprepared”.

He also took aim at the ‘ministry’ for its plans regarding schools’ opening hours, criticising the plans for children to attend school until 4:10pm on two days per week.

He pointed out that the move “ignores the seasonal conditions of our country and wants to imprison children in school yards under primitive conditions during lunch breaks”.

“They do not provide food for the students who are forced to stay in schools during lunch breaks, and they want them to spend that time hungry or with an unsuitable diet,” he said.

Criticising the planned move to extend school days for even the youngest children, he said regardless of whether there is an educational gain or not, they want four- and five-year-old children to do five more lessons per week just to save on transportation.

“While class time is increased in preschools, there are no vacancies for teaching assistants, showing that the aim is not to provide quality education in these institutions,” he added.

However, he said, “with every step taken by the ministry, they create chaos in the education system and new problems. There is only one thing to do for those who cannot produce solutions to the problems they create: resignation.”