THE historic Elenion primary school in Nicosia will not be turned into a fossil museum after all, lawmakers heard yesterday.
Parents and alumni had reacted when it emerged in May that the ministry had been looking into housing a collection of dinosaur bones and fossils at the school that had been donated by a businessman.
They opposed the move, fearing that it would eventually lead to the school’s closure.
The matter found its way to parliament where the Education Committee heard yesterday that the €4.0 million collection could not be housed at Elenion due to practical reasons.
Reading a letter from Angelos Tsirides, the donor, chairman Nicos Tornarites said experts decided that the collection could only be housed at the Elenion if the entire building was used.
And since only a part of the school would be provided, it cannot be used, Tsirides said in the letter.
Education ministry permanent secretary Olympia Stylianou stressed that the ministry had not taken a final decision on the matter.
“It was something we studied,” she told MPs.
Stylianou said the Elenion had been discussed as an option on condition that the school would continue to operate.
There was no decision to close the school, Stylianou said.
“In fact, it looks like the Elenion is not suitable,” the ministry official said.
Earlier yesterday, House President Yiannakis Omirou lent his support to the school’s parents association and alumni.
“Our position is that the change in use of this building will hurt the history it has created,” Omirou said.
He said the building had been bequeathed to the state with the aim of operating as a school.
“Changing the use of the building will be a violation of the donor’s will,” Omirou added.
The House President later met members of a movement set up to protect another school, the Pancyprian Gymnasium, which suggests the school’s character was in danger from plans to upgrade the buildings.
Speaking on behalf of the movement, former headmaster Giorgos Hadjicostis said they did not want the building complex to lose its historical appearance through additions or demolitions.
Hadjicostis also expressed concern over the possibility remaining a secondary school in the future.
But both schools’ future may lie in a proposal by the University of Cyprus to create experimental secondary and primary schools with a view to draft the course of education in the 21st century.
“The University is very interested in these two schools,” Rector Costas Christophides said.
He said the schools will reflect the population of Cyprus – they will host children from different towns and social strata so that they really reflect the country.
“For the school to be successful it should reflect the composition of Cypriot society,” Christophides told MPs.
The University’s proposal will be ready in September and the plan is for the secondary school to be up and running by the same month next year.
