The Ministry of Education launched an investigation into two Nicosia schools following controversy over planned student visits to the occupied port of Kyrenia, amid public outcry over a government-endorsed bi-communal programme.
The planned visits, organised by the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR), were part of a project titled “Cyprus: Classroom without walls” targeting students aged 13-17 from both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
The ministry confirmed that whilst it has distributed circulars about the IMAGINE programme for nine years, this marks the first instance of proposed visits to occupied territories being included in the activities.
A ministry source told philenews that student participation in non-school hour programmes remains voluntary and requires parental consent, with schools bearing no responsibility.
Loizos Constantinou, president of the Pan-Cyprian Confederation of Secondary Education Parents, said that whilst visiting occupied territories remains a personal choice, such visits are not part of the official school curriculum.
The IMAGINE programme, funded by Germany’s Foreign Ministry, has engaged 6,700 students from all communities and trained 1,200 teachers since 2017.
