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Cyprus Education
Although the "TRNC" was by most standards still a
so-called
"developing society" at the beginning of the 1990s, with a
per
capita income and other social indicators similar to those
of
Greece, Turkey, and Chile, the Turkish Cypriot educational
level
was that of more advanced countries. The Turkish Cypriot
literacy
rate stood at 97 percent, and there was a high number of
university
students. These educational attainments stemmed in part
from
relatively enlightened British rule in the colonial period
and the
close adherence of Turkish Cypriots to Atatürk's
educational
reforms. These reforms entailed the adoption of the Latin
alphabet
and an emphasis on secular values. Also contributing to
the
educational successes were the easily manageable size of
the
Turkish Cypriot society and the readily apparent
importance of a
well-trained work force if the "TRNC" were to prosper.
Few Turkish Cypriots received a university education in
the
period before the island became independent in 1960, and
those who
did frequently did not return to Cyprus upon completion of
their
studies. A sign of the scarcity of university graduates
was that a
high school graduate in the 1940s and 1950s immediately
attained a
respectable position in the bureaucracy.
The lack of university-educated Turkish Cypriots
created a
serious problem when government agencies were staffed
according to
the 70 to 30 Greek Cypriot to Turkish Cypriot ratio agreed
upon
when the Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960. To
overcome
this problem, Turkish Cypriots began a massive education
training
program by sending their high-school graduates to
universities in
Turkey. To facilitate this process, the Turkish
authorities
provided special quotas for Turkish Cypriot students.
Thus, Cypriot
Turks obtained easier access to university education in
Turkey than
mainland Turks. This procedure ended in the late 1970s.
Since then,
Turkish Cypriots have participated in the general
university
entrance examination set by the Turkish Ministry of
Education.
Turkish Cypriots set up their own education system
after the de
facto partition of the island in 1974. At the beginning of
the
1990s, they had schools and universities that taught their
youth
from age four up to the graduate level. A preprimary
school system
was not yet run by the state, but in many areas private
kindergartens were in operation. The public school system,
under
the direction of the Ministry of Education, Sports, and
Youth,
began with primary school, free and compulsory for all
children
between the ages of six and fifteen. Primary school was
divided
into two stages, the first for children aged six to
twelve, and the
second for children between thirteen and fifteen. Three
years of
secondary education, for youth sixteen to eighteen took
place at
lycées (high schools) offering general academic courses
and at
technical and vocational schools providing specialized
training.
The Turkish Cypriot education system expanded rapidly,
with
regard to both numbers and types of schools and students
(see
table 9, "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus": Schools,
Teachers, and
Enrollments, 1976-77 and 1988-89). The number of
pre-primary and
elementary schools increased significantly. In these
institutions,
the student-teacher ratio also improved, from thirty in
1976-77 to
twenty-seven in pre-primary and twenty-three in elementary
schools
in 1988-89. At the junior high-school level, the
student/teacher
ratio improved from twenty in 1976-77 to twenty-two in
1988-89. The
figures in 1986-87 for the lycées and colleges were 20 and
15.6,
respectively. In the vocational and technical schools, the
1988-89
figures indicated a student/teacher ratio of eight to one,
a
tremendous advantage for individual student training. In
terms of
literacy, state statistics show important improvements.
The rate of
those attending school in 1987 was: seven to twelve years
of age,
98 percent; thirteen to fifteen, 66 percent; and fifteen
to
eighteen, 50 percent.
Turkish Cypriot teachers often studied abroad, but they
could
also receive their training from a domestic teacher
training
college. The Higher Technical Institute and the Eastern
Mediterranean University (EMU) at Famagusta provided
education at
the university level, as did the private University
College of
North Cyprus and the religious institution at Lefke
University.
EMU, the largest of these schools, offered courses in
engineering,
business, and economics. The medium of teaching at this
university
was English, a considerable attraction, and most of its
students
were foreigners, mainly Turks. Enrollment grew rapidly.
During the
1984-85 academic year, EMU had 458 students. Enrollment
nearly
tripled the following year and in the 1990-91 academic
year
amounted to 3,585. Two-thirds of the students were
Turkish, 715
were Turkish Cypriots, and most of the remainder came from
other
Middle Eastern countries. In addition to those enrolled at
the EMU,
1,875 Turkish Cypriots attended foreign universities in
1988, 1,580
of them in Turkey. The United States and Britain each had
more than
100 Turkish Cypriot university students.
The growing emphasis on university education among
Turkish
Cypriots was not without its drawbacks. Since the
available jobs
for university graduates were limited in such a small
state, many
graduates choose to remain outside Cyprus. This was
especially true
of those with advanced degrees. The resulting brain drain
might be
reduced by the continued expansion of EMU.
Lefke University was founded in 1990 by the Cyprus
Science Wakf
(a religious foundation) with US$2 million in funds from
the
Islamic Development Bank. The university had as its goal
the
combining of Islamic principles with advanced education
for the
benefit of students of the Middle East. It was thus a
departure
from the Turkish Cypriot tradition of secular education.
At its
founding, however, the new university had strong links not
with
Turkish Cypriots, but rather with Saudi Arabian groups and
Turkish
Islamists who wished to establish a university according
to their
ideals in Turkey. Strong opposition from Turkey's academic
institutions forced them to settle on Lefka as a suitable
site. The
new university's closeness to Turkey, and the agreement
that
Turkish and Turkish Cypriot citizens enjoy preferential
treatment
in each other's state, would mean that Turkish students of
a
Islamist bent would be able to study there. Some observers
feared
that Lefke University will have negative effects on the
Turkish
Cypriot tradition of secularism. Others welcomed the
establishment
of a center of sharia in the "TRNC."
Data as of January 1991
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