School leavers want to be primary teachers

ALMOST half of all school leavers want to become primary school teachers, despite the long waiting list to teach at state schools, reports said yesterday.
According to Phileleftheros, 42.2 per cent of this year’s students had applied to sit university exams to attend teacher training courses, undeterred by the fact that in 2005 there were 1,205 unemployed teachers.

Based on the applications that 6,400 candidates had filled in for local higher education institutions, 2,703 had included the pedagogical department among their choices. However, because the University of Cyprus will only offer 50 places this year, only 1.8 per cent of the applicants will be successful.

Equally competitive are the places for the nursing school, which has been integrated into Limassol’s Technology University (TEPAK), which will open its doors in September.

Nursing is the second most popular choice among school leavers, with 2,370 applications or 37 per cent of the total number of candidates. With TEPAK prepared to offer 200 places for nurses, the competition is expected to be tight.

The third most popular choice is again related to education, though this time pre-school education with 32 per cent of candidates hoping to become nursery school teachers. Again there are only 55 places at the University of Cyprus for this course meaning only 2.6 per cent of candidates will be successful in their endeavours.

According to the local daily the Education Service Committee said it would take 17 years for all graduates on today’s waiting list to be appointed permanently.

From all the departments at the tertiary education institutions the ones with the greatest chance of securing a place are those who applied for public management and business management with an acceptance ratio of one to 10 candidates.

The course that has attracted the least number of interested candidates this year is French Studies as the University of Cyprus, the paper added.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.