Additional sponsorship for airfares and accommodation will be given to a significant number of students, Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Mr. Prodromos Prodromou, after the meeting he had today at the Ministry with the President of the Pancyprian Federation of Student Unions (PofEN) Mr. Rafael Zachariadis. The meeting was also attended by the Head of the Student Welfare Service Mr. Gabriel Mithillos.
Specifically, Mr. Prodromou in his statements said: "It is true that there are inflationary pressures all over the world and our students either in Cyprus or abroad are facing problems related to accommodation and air tickets, the prices of which have increased.
Therefore, taking into account the inflationary pressures, as well as the request made by POFEN, we decided, within the framework of the possibilities we have and the policy for student sponsorship, to allocate, as planned, an amount of €3-3.5 million,
We are responding to the request of PofEN, using the margins given to us within the Budget for student sponsorship, and discussions have been held with the Federation for the next few years as well."
The Minister of Education concluded by noting that "we are responding to the request of PofEN, using the margins given to us within the Budget for student sponsorship, and discussions have been held with the Federation for the next few years".
For his part, the President of POFEN said that POFEN welcomes the actions of the Minister of Education for the allocation of the unallocated funds to students who really need it and expressed his satisfaction because the proposals of POFEN were adopted.
The Minister of Education then answered questions from journalists.
In response to a question on how many students will benefit from these funds, Mr Prodromou said: "Based on the calculations that have been made, 2,200 will benefit for air fares and the aid for accommodation will benefit more than 6,000 students."
Asked if these amounts will be added to the student grant given each year, the Education Minister noted: "This is the amount that we can allocate from our Budget. We do not have the ability to change the Budget now but we are using the Budget, allocating the budget that remains available, targeting airfares and housing."
Asked if there will be a specific application that students will make, Prodromou said: "No, it is on the basis of the applications that have been submitted and the information that the Student Services Department is processing. The additional sponsorship will be transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries."
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