Union seeks official student ID card

THE PANCYPRIAN Federation of Student Unions (POFNE) has called on the government to create a student ID card that will make life easier and cheaper for Cypriot students.

Head of POFNE Christos Tsingis said the issue has been open for the past eight years but it is “high time” that a student ID card system was implemented. The proposal being put to the government is based on the NUS student ID system that exists in the UK.

Students studying in the UK are entitled to an NUS card, which gives them a number of benefits.

This includes discounts in various stores, on train and plane tickets and also on admission fees to cultural events or cinema.

Another positive aspect of the NUS card system is that cardholders can use it in Europe and across the globe with equal benefits. As well as making life easier for students struggling with their new cost of living, the card has also proved popular on the commercial front with some traders offering discounts to bearers of the student card.

Earlier in the week, students demanded a reduction in flight fares on Cyprus Airways as well as discounts on their telephone bills from the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA).

POFNE is demanding a reduction on ticket prices, more flights during the Summer, Easter and Christmas holidays, as well as an increase in direct flights to popular destinations like Patra, Komotini and Ioannina in Greece.
Cyprus Airways’ spokesman, Tassos Angelis, told the Cyprus Mail, “we already offer reduced fares to students – whether or not they have a student ID they still get a discount.”

Responding to student requests for discounted phone charges – including a first telephone account opened free and cheaper monthly line rental for mobiles and landlines – CyTA spokesman, Paris Menelaous told the Cyprus Mail that an official request has not been made.

These two points are all part of a broader scheme. Tsingis clarified, “The ID should be available to all Cypriot students whether they are studying in Cyprus or abroad.

POFNE met with the Minister of Communications and Works Kikis Kazamias on Tuesday to put forward their proposal.

Tsingis hopes to see the plan materialise soon but said it is up to the state to show a bit of goodwill and make the first move.

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.