Sir,
I feel compelled to respond to your article in last week’s Sunday Mail regarding the education of English children in Cypriot schools and the problems currently being experienced by both the children and parents.
I felt that the article appeared extremely negative and one-sided and portrayed the Cypriot education system in a very poor light. I also felt that the incidents highlighted – whilst no doubt sad, upsetting and inappropriate – seemed to indicate that all the blame lay entirely with the schools and local children.
Whilst my family and I sympathise in the extreme with both the children and families concerned, I did not feel that the portrayal of the Cypriot education system in general was fair nor acceptable.
For my own part, I am able to offer an entirely different perspective on both the education system and the schools with which my family and I have recently been associated. And whilst I am sure that our experiences will offer no comfort to those families in the article, I would hope to demonstrate that any problems encountered in schools, can be appropriately and properly resolved.
We moved to Cyprus two years ago and my daughter was almost five years old. She spoke no Greek whatsoever and had only experienced life on the island on three previous holidays. One of the main considerations for our move was the inestimable benefit of her becoming bi-lingual at a very early age, in addition to the other benefits such as personal safety, enhanced quality of life and better climate. There was also the protection from the unacceptable and dangerous situations which seem to have become an inherent part of England’s so-called education system: alcohol, drugs and violence, to name but three.
To date, owing to personal circumstances, she has attended two kindergartens, one in Droushia and one in Ayios Theodoros. She is at present in her first year in an elementary school in Mazotos. All these establishments have been impeccably administered, well disciplined, and have communicated well beyond expectation.
In addition to this, they have been supportive helpful and informative. It would be impossible for me to criticise them in terms of the delivery and the standard of education my daughter has received and unfair to negatively portray the manner in which they have dealt with problems which have occurred.
My daughter’s spoken Greek is now excellent and her written Greek continues to improve in line with the established educational curriculum. She enjoys school and looks forward to attending every day.
There have been isolated incidents where my daughter has been found at fault which have necessitated intervention by both my wife, myself and the school. On these occasions all parties have worked together with the express intention of resolving these matters to the mutual benefit of everyone concerned.
On the occasions where my daughter has been unfairly or inappropriately treated by local children, the staff in all three schools have acted fairly and without bias. They always demonstrated a willingness to ensure my wife and myself were both fully appraised of the situation, and satisfied with the action taken and the resultant outcome.
In closing, I feel it both necessary and important to say that any problems encountered at school need swift ,decisive and unbiased intervention, in order to both protect the emotional well being of the child and help staff to ensure the situation does not escalate or become prolonged.
Having said that, however, I do feel that English parents who have the privilege of schooling their children in Cyprus should remain aware of the differences which will invariably arise, at both playground and classroom level are no different to those which would arise were they in the UK.
Therefore, would it not be pertinent to suggest that if any such differences can not be resolved appropriately, an alternative local school could be considered an option as opposed to removing the children concerned to private or British based education, which would not only deprive the children of the valuable opportunity to learn a second language, but also prevent them from embracing the culture in which they now reside?
It seems extremely unfair to criticise and malign an education system which in my opinion appears far superior to that of the UK based upon a negative experience which may prove to be an exception to the rule.
Rob Wharton,
Larnaca
