THE MINISTRY of Education will be announcing a set of measures to promote a culture of understanding, peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.
This programme, to be applied from the coming school year, will form part of the educational reform program, which was announced last month by the Minister of Education, Andreas Demetriou.
The set of measures will include lessons that promote mutual understanding and respect, as well as encouraging students to participate in extra-curricular activities with peers from the Turkish Cypriot community in a bid to foster co-operation and trust.
Proposed classes will reportedly include Turkish Cypriot literature classes for Greek Cypriot students, Turkish language classes that encourage the comparison between Greek and Turkish, classes that will cover issues such as the common struggles of the two communities and their past co-existence, as well as issues that concern youths from both communities, such as career choice, nutrition, music, dance and entertainment.
The programme will also include encouraging students to participate in activities that bring them in contact with peers from the other community, as well as activities that promote values such as peace and understanding. For example, students from both communities will be encouraged to take part jointly in European educational projects. Plans also include the creation of school clubs and associations that promote peaceful coexistence and co-operation, the organisation of bi-communal cultural events, where each community can showcase its culture, as well as traits of a common culture.
The Ministry of Education also plans to organise bi-communal activities outside the school that will involve both students and teachers; these may include joint participation at international conferences, European projects and sports days.
As part of its educational reform programme, the Ministry of Education announced in July a pilot project for the smooth entry and inclusion of foreign-speaking students in public schools. First, the Ministry will introduce a pilot programme of fast-track Greek language teaching, which will be applied in 16 schools (10 secondary, five lyceums and one technical school).
The programme also provides for the creation of a guide-book for newly-arrived foreign speaking students, which will be available in eight languages. The guide book will provide information on the Cypriot education system, prospects for higher education, as well as student right and obligations.
Plans also include additional training courses for teachers, on issues such as multicultural education, teaching students whose native language is not Greek, and teaching Greek as a foreign language.
