Foreign families badly affected by English-speaking school shortage

09:34 - 18 May 2023

Current Affairs

A number of schools have joined forces and sent a letter to Education Minister Athena Michaelidou to complain about a huge shortage in English-speaking nurseries and schools; a situation made even trickier by the increasing number of foreign nationals relocating to the country for work.

In the letter, the schools said that many foreign families are facing serious issues as a result of not being able to secure a place in one of the island’s few English-speaking schools and nurseries, the most important being that they are not able to renew their residency permits without certifying their children are going to school.

The sudden influx of foreign professionals and their families over the past two years has exacerbated things further, they said. Currently, there are just five registered private English-speaking nurseries and nine schools. Given that the number of foreign citizens in Cyprus is 193,300 island-wide (53,100 in Limassol alone), it is easy to see how disproportionate this is, they said.

Beyond the technical issues, the letter also stresses how important it is for the children themselves to be in a stable school environment.

Foreign families badly affected by English-speaking school shortage

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