OELMEK and the Pan-Cypriot Confederation of Parents of Public Secondary Schools emphasize their determination to restore the equal treatment of all students in Cyprus by any means at their disposal in a statement regarding what was said on Thursday at the extraordinary meeting of the Parliamentary Education Committee. They call on the Ministry of Education to “restore” the equal treatment of all young people in Cyprus.
At yesterday's extraordinary meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, they say in a statement, “the very serious issue” of discrimination and unequal treatment of public school students was discussed. The two agencies state that this is due to recent decisions of the Ministry of the Interior in relation to private education, “an issue that we have documented, as we did yesterday”.
“A variety of issues and formal admissions emerged from yesterday's meeting,” it added. “First of all, it became clear that the Ministry of Education is administratively reviewing the procedures followed in relation to the decisions taken by its competent departments in this particular matter,” the statement says. At the same time, it is noted, “the admission was repeated that the control and supervision exercised by the Ministry of Education in private schools is not sufficient, due to the weaknesses that it admits exist in the competent structures”.
It is also noted that “there was an admission” of the problems presented by the Law on private schools, that there has been an intervention by the Ministry to withdraw advertising that was not compatible with the legislation, as well as an official statement by the Minister of Education that it is not allowed the operation of one-year schools.
“As OELMEK and as the Pancypriot Confederation of Parents we emphasize that the issue of the unequal treatment of students in Public Schools remains open and huge”, they report, adding that, “yesterday was only the authority”, with the extensive briefing of which the Parliamentary Committee on Education received.
“Consequently, we call on the Ministry of Education to restore the equal treatment of all young people in Cyprus”, they said. They also call on the Parliamentary Education Committee “to do the same”, as well as to exercise its control role for the implementation and observance of the Legislation passed by the House of Representatives, as well as the way they are interpreted by the relevant Ministries.
Finally, they emphasize the determination of OELMEK and the Pan-Cypriot Confederation of Parents to restore the equal treatment of all of the students of Cyprus, for which, as they say, they will use every means at their disposal.
