Education minister to inform EU Greek Cypriot schools in north

Education Minister Athena Michaelidou will inform the Culture and Education Committee of the EU parliament on issues faced by Greek Cypriot schools in the north in Rizokarpaso.

According to an announcement on Friday, the committee decided that at their next session they would be informed by the minister about the difficulties faced by schools in Rizokarpaso, due to the actions of the Turkish Cypriot ‘authorities’.

According to the announcement, the north’s ‘authorities’ have been systematically blocking access to education of the students in Rizokarpaso’s Greek Cypriot schools and the smooth operations of the schools there.

The north’s ‘foreign ministry’ seems, reports suggested a few months ago, to be blocking access to ministry officials, saying that a request needs to be filed by the Republic’s foreign ministry to the UN for the officials to visit.

This opinion is being quietly supported by some teachers at the school, Politis reported on Tuesday.

Since the block on inspectors has been imposed, maintenance works at the schools have been effectively put on hold.

The north’s ‘authorities’ are also checking all the books that come into the schools and have in the past banned history and English books.

The books are checked by the north and approved for use for two years. If a book is not approved or there is problem, it might have some pages removed, and teachers must work around it.