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Cyprus Education
One of the most important institutional changes
introduced
during the period of British rule was the allocation of a
small
subsidy for the establishment of primary schools. A great
increase
in the number of primary schools throughout the island was
made
possible by the Education Law of 1895, which permitted
local
authorities to raise taxes to finance schools. In 1897
there were
only 76 schools, run by voluntary and church donations;
twenty
years later there were 179. Colonial officials also
subsidized
teacher training and agricultural courses, but did not
interfere
with local and church authorities in the area of secondary
education.
As a result of a campaign against illiteracy launched
by
British authorities, the percentage of illiterate adult
Cypriots
fell from 33 percent in 1946 to 18 percent in 1960. After
independence the illiteracy rate dropped still further, to
9.5
percent in 1976, the last year for which there are
statistics. In
that year, 15 percent of women were illiterate, as were
3.2 percent
of men. This improvement reflected the growing school
enrollment.
In 1960 as much as 25 percent of the population had never
attended
school, but by 1986-87 this figure had dropped to 6
percent.
Another indication of the expansion of education was that
in 1946
only 5 percent of adult women had attended secondary
schools; forty
years later 30 percent had.
During the colonial period, the main educational goal
was the
inculcation of national ideals and the strengthening of
ethnic
identity. After independence, goals became more practical.
A welleducated population was seen as the best way of
guaranteeing a
thriving economy, a rise in overall living standards, and
a
vigorous cultural life. The great importance attached to
education
could be seen in the significant rise in government
spending on it
during the period since independence. In 1960 education
accounted
for 3.4 percent of the gross national product
(GNP--see Glossary).
By 1987 education accounted for 5.6 percent of GNP and
11.6 percent
of the government's budget.
At the beginning of the 1990s, there was an abundance
of
qualified teachers for all levels and types of schools, as
well as
administrative personnel, all of whom were accredited by a
special
committee of the Ministry of Education. All public schools
had
uniform curricula; the preparation of school textbooks was
the
responsibility of committees of teachers and
administrators,
working in close cooperation with educational authorities
in
Greece. Some instructional material for both primary and
secondary
education was donated by the Greek government. Cypriot
schools were
also well provided with modern teaching equipment.
A principal challenge at the beginning of the 1990s was
providing education more responsive to the needs of the
economy.
The first vocational-technical schools were established
after
independence in an attempt to provide the rapidly
expanding economy
with technicians and skilled workers. However, Cyriots
retained a
tendency to choose academic rather than technical courses,
for
reasons of social prestige. Cyprus therefore faced a
chronic
shortage of skilled workers and a high rate of
unemployment for
university graduates. In the second half of the 1980s,
this trend
had ended. In the 1986-87 academic year, only 5.3 percent
of
students opted for the classical academic course of
studies,
compared with 46.2 percent in the 1965-66 academic year.
About half
of all students chose to concentrate on economic and
commercial
courses; about one-fifth percent chose scientific courses;
and onefifth percent, vocational-technical courses.
The Greek Cypriot education system consisted of
preprimary and
primary schools, secondary general and secondary
technical/vocational schools, and special schools for the
blind,
deaf, and other teachable handicapped persons. In
addition, there
were institutions for teacher training, specialized
instruction,
and informal education. As of 1990, there was no
university in the
Republic of Cyprus, and until one opened in the early
1990s,
further studies had to be pursued abroad. There were a
small number
of private schools.
The constitution of 1960 assigned responsibility for
education
to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communal
chambers. After
withdrawal of the Turkish Cypriots from all state
institutions, the
government proceeded with the establishment of the
Ministry of
Education in 1965. Under this ministry, the education
system
evolved its present structure: one to two and one-half
years of
preprimary schooling for children aged three to five and
one-half
years; six years of primary school for children aged five
and onehalf to eleven and one-half years; six years of secondary
schooling, followed by two to three years of higher
education for
those who did not go to study abroad.
The development of preprimary education was a
relatively recent
phenomenon in Cyprus. In 1973 only 11 percent of children
under
five years of age attended public or private nurseries or
kindergartens. Following the 1974 invasion, the state
became much
more involved with preprimary education through its
establishment
of nurseries and kindergartens for the thousands of
refugees from
northern areas. The 1980s saw a further expansion of
public
education of this kind
(see table 8).
Primary education was always free in Cyprus and aimed
at the
all-around education of young children. After 1962 primary
education was compulsory, and primary schools were found
in all
communities, even remote villages. In the 1986-87 academic
year,
there were 357 public primary schools, and l6 private ones
(most of
the latter for the children of foreign residents).
Secondary education, which was also free, but not
compulsory,
was open without examination to all children who had
completed
primary schooling. It was divided into two stages, each
consisting
of three grades. During the first stage, the gymnasium,
all
students were taught the same general subjects, with a
special
emphasis on the humanities. The second stage consisted of
either
the lyceum, which offered five main fields of
specialization
(classical studies, science, economics, business, and
languages),
or a vocational-technical course. Schools of the second
category
aimed at providing industry with technicians and
craftsmen.
Vocational schools trained many students for work in the
country's
important tourist industry; technical schools emphasized
mathematics, science, and training in various
technologies.
After independence the number of students at the
secondary
level increased rapidly, rising from 26,000 in the 1960-61
academic
year to 42,000 ten years later. By the second half of the
1980s, 98
percent of those who completed primary school attended
secondary
schools, compared with about 75 percent twenty years
earlier.
Although Cyprus had no university of its own (the
long-planned
University of Cyprus was expected to begin enrolling
students for
some courses in 1991), many Cypriots were at foreign
universities,
and the percentage of students studying at the university
level, 29
percent, was among the highest in the world. During the
1970s and
1980s, an average of more than over 10,000 Cypriots
studied abroad
annually. During the 1970s, more than half of these
students were
in Greece, and about one-fifth were in Britain. In the
1980s, the
United States became an important destination for students
going
abroad, generally surpassing Britain. The number of women
studying
abroad increased markedly during the 1970s and 1980s,
going from 24
percent in 1970 to 40 percent in 1987.
Cyprus did, however, provide some opportunities for
third-level
training, and in the late 1980s attracted some of those
who earlier
would have studied abroad. In 1987 there were seven public
and ten
private institutions of higher learning, where about
one-fourth of
the island's secondary school graduates were enrolled. The
public
institutions were the Pedagogical Academy of the Ministry
of
Education, which trained kindergarten and primary school
teachers;
the Higher Technical Institute of the Ministry of Labor
and Social
Insurance, which trained mechanical, electrical, and civil
engineers; the College of Forestry under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Natural Resources; the School of Nursing,
the
School of Midwifery, and the Psychiatric School of Nursing
under
the Ministry, of Health; and the Hotel and Catering
Institute under
the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance. Private
institutions
offered courses in business administration, secretarial
studies,
mechanical and civil engineering, banking and accounting,
hotel and
catering, and communications.
Data as of January 1991
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