The expansion of pre-primary education passed the Parliament – What changes –? The AKEL amendment was rejected
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compulsory pre-primary education is being expanded, so that children can study from the age of four years.
On Thursday, the Parliament voted in favor of the “On Primary and Secondary Education (Compulsory Education and Provision of Free Education) (Amendment) Act of 2022” and the regulations “The Operation of Public Schools of Primary Education (Amendment) Regulations of 2022”.
The bill was passed into law with 31 votes in favor and 12 against. The regulations were passed with 28 votes in favor. During the discussion the amendment tabled by AKEL MPs Christos Christofidis, Andreas Kavkalias and Christos Christofias was rejected with 25 votes against, which provided for ensuring that all children aged 4 and above will attend free of charge public kindergartens in their educational district and that they will be referred by the Ministry of Education to private kindergartens based on criteria to be determined by the Minister of Education.
Letter from the Minister of Education to the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture dated October 21, 2022 states that the draft laws under consideration were submitted to the Parliament in the context of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Cyprus (2021-2026), with the aim of gradually expanding the age limit for admission to compulsory pre-primary education and that the project it will be completed in three phases and the children's education during the three phases will be compulsory and free of charge.
