It is clear to me that the writer of your editorial (The English School: fighting for its soul, June 27) fails to appreciate and respect the right of the majority of the school’s students and parents to decide if the school has a Greek Cypriot character or not.
As far as I understand the vast majority of students of the English school come from a Greek Cypriot/Christian Orthodox background and they have every right to celebrate Greek national holidays, sing the Greek national anthem and have icons in the classroom. Perhaps the writer should be informed that the Greek national anthem is not only the national anthem of Greece but of Cyprus as well and it has been since 1960! He also seems to ignore the fact that the Greek national holidays such as March 25 are again Cyprus bank holidays and they have been since 1960!
Every nation has the right to be proud of their roots, heritage, religion … and nation. Most schools in the Western world, whether public or private, celebrate their country’s national or religious holidays. There is nothing wrong with that especially in a country such as Cyprus where a lot of people are religious and a certain national pride is needed considering the troubled history of this island and the dangers it’s still facing.
It might be that the leader writer is indifferent to the Greek Orthodox religion or Greek holidays perhaps because he or she is not local, or maybe he just doesn’t care much about religion or national identity. Well, it appears that most students of the English School and their parents do care and this should be enough. Do we not live in a democracy after all? At the end of the day, the English School receives most of its funding from student’s fees. The parents who pay good money to send their children to the English school deserve to have a say in the way the school is run. The writer says that parents can take their children to a state school if they want their children to have a Greek education. I am afraid if parents took your advice that this would really be the end of the English school for obvious reasons.
The problems and disputes in English school were not caused by the Greek Cypriot students/parents’ nationalism or xenophobia but from the irrational intention to ban anything Greek from the school so the Turkish minority would not be offended. Why would the Turkish minority be offended by icons in classrooms or the Greek national anthem? Did the Turkish Cypriot students even complain? If I send my children to a school in England should I be offended if my children are exposed to the English national anthem or the Anglican church? It is one thing to respect and accept people irrespective of their religion, race or colour, and it is a completely different thing to suppress the identity of a nation in order to avoid offending an ethnic minority. This is political correctness going crazy! We have seen this in the UK in several towns where certain people suggest not celebrating Christmas or decorating the town as this might offend different faiths. If anything, such policies actually create more xenophobia or nationalism. People get to the point where they think: ‘Who are these people who come to my country to tell me to not celebrate Christmas or be ashamed of my national identity?’
And although the writer wants a school that doesn’t celebrate Christian holidays he wants the school to celebrate Bayram which is not even a state holiday! Maybe the writer should also consider the practical consequences of what he is suggesting as clearly most parents would be at work (as it is not a bank holiday) and not be able to be at home when their children have a day off. Do English schools or other schools in Europe celebrate Bayram although they have a bigger Muslim minority than English school does?
And as to the government being involved in the affairs of English school that is to be expected given that English school is state-owned and is funded by the government. As to the claim that things were different before 1974 I doubt that the writer was around at the time as he would have known that the vast majority of students were again Greek Cypriot and yes there were icons in the classroom and children did sing the national anthem!
The author claims that English school is fighting for its soul. Yes, indeed it is. As it seems that political correctness paranoia has now arrived in Cyprus and in our schools!
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