The compulsory pre-primary education is extended, so that children attend from the age of four.
The House passed the "The Primary and Secondary Education (Compulsory Attendance and Provision of Free Education) (Amendment) Act, 2022" and the "The Operation of Public Primary Schools (Amendment) Regulations, 2022" on Thursday.
The bill was passed into law with 31 votes in favour and 12 against. The regulations passed with 28 votes in favor. During the debate, the amendment tabled by AKEL MP Christos Christofides was rejected[/B] with 25 votes against, Andreas Kavkalias and Christos Christofias, which provided for ensuring that all children aged 4 years and over would attend public kindergartens in their educational region free of charge and that they would be referred by the Ministry of Education to private kindergartens on the basis of criteria determined by the Minister of Education.
A letter of the Minister of Education to the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture dated 21 October 2022 states that the draft laws under consideration were submitted to the Parliament within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Cyprus (2021-2026), aiming at the gradual extension of the age of admission to compulsory pre-primary education and that the project will be completed in three phases and the attendance of children during the three phases will be compulsory and free of charge.
During the first phase of the project, children will be enrolled only in public and community schools, while during the second and third phases, in cases where public kindergartens cannot absorb the number of enrolments, children will be allocated to community and private kindergartens on the basis of defined criteria. For the 2023-2026 school years, tuition fees will be subsidised by funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The Minister also says that the project, based on the Operational Arrangements Agreement between Cyprus and the European Union, has a milestone for the entry into force of the bill in the fourth quarter of 2022 and that the enrolment of all compulsory education children in public kindergartens during the implementation of the project is not feasible, as the appropriate building infrastructure does not exist at this stage.
The Parliamentary Committee unanimously decided to make some changes to the text of the bill, which concern the amendment of its transitional provisions. In particular, the following will be provided for children who have reached the specified age of attendance for compulsory pre-primary education: In the school years 2023-2025 they will attend public or community kindergartens; in the school year 2025-2026 they will attend public or community or private kindergartens, if necessary; and from the school year 2026-2027 they will attend a public kindergarten in their educational district and the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth will inform the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture every six months on the progress of the implementation of this regulation
In addition, the Parliament unanimously passed the "On the Operation of Public Secondary Education Schools (Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations of 2022."
The regulations aim to differentiate the subjects examined for promotion and dismissal of students in grades A, B and C of Technical Schools.
The differentiation of examination subjects for promotion and dismissal is deemed necessary after the operation of new branches and specialties in Technical Education and is expected to improve the evaluation procedures of students within the framework of the four-semesters, which is applied in all three classes of Secondary Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
Source: CNA
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