Prodromou says preprimary education law could be referred to supreme court

The island’s Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou on Sunday said President Nicos Anastasiades has the option of referring the law on pre-primary education to the Supreme Court.

Prodromou’s comments came after the House of Representatives on December 29 rejected the objections raised after Anastasiades sent back the law that allowed only state and community pre-primary kindergartens to operate for children aged between four-and-a-half-to-six-years-old.

Prodromou said he will discuss the matter with Anastasiades in the coming days, noting that any affected citizen can go to court to overturn the legislation that prohibits the attendance of four-and-a-half-to-six-year-olds in private pre-primary schools.

Anastasiades on December 28 said the law appears to bar citizens from the opportunity to register their child in a private nursery if they wish.

Additionally, he said the law creates “immense difficulties” in its implementation to offer free pre-primary education, noting it puts at risk the disbursement of €12 million from the Recovery and Resilience Plan.