Parents speak out of English School’s changing agenda
By Stefanos Evripidou
A GROUP of parents with pupils at the English School have organised themselves to protest against what they see as the increasingly left-leaning political agenda of the school.
An anonymous website, www.englishschoolnews.com, has been created by parents of pupils who are concerned about what they describe as the political pressure being put on their children by a team of teachers who impose their own views and those of a political party.
The English School started off as a mixed school with Greek and Turkish Cypriot pupils, and returned to being one again after the crossings opened in 2003. Given the content of the website and the gripes voiced, the offending party in question is likely to be the ruling communist party AKEL.
Speaking of the left-leaning group of teachers, the concerned parents accuse it of “an evident effort to impose its personal and party views on pupils regarding matters like the Turkish invasion, EOKA, ethnic origin in Cyprus, religion…”
They refer to the recent banning of symbols like the Greek flag and the cross, the teaching of national poet Vasilis Michaelides, the removal of religious icons from the classroom and the national anthem, all in the name of “multiculturalism”, say the aggrieved parents.
It is argued that this politicisation in the classroom is having an adverse affect on the children, hence the creation of the Initiative of Parents and Graduates of English School to express displeasure at path the school is taking.
The website allows for parents to make their own comments, and post their own gripes. So far, four comments have been left, one discussing the teaching of Current Affairs by one senior teacher.
“For a whole three-month period, he tried to ‘explain’ that Turkish Cypriots are compatriots and have the same rights as Greek Cypriots and that they killed Greek Cypriots and that Greek Cypriots killed Turkish Cypriots. He also showed them an interview with a Turkish Cypriot whose family was killed by Greek Cypriots,” said one commentator.
He added that personal views should not be brought into the classroom, whether they were right or wrong, and accused the teacher of abusing his position, suggesting the lesson be scrapped.
Another complained that in one school bulletin reference was made to the north and south of Cyprus, language which even the government did not adopt, said the writer.
A complaint was also registered that an AKEL member, Rolandos Katsiaounis was invited to speak at the end of October to celebrate Cyprus’ independence, a month late and without the national anthem. He was accused of bringing leftist ideology to the national problem.
The concerned parents call on the English School to leave policy and propaganda out of the school and call on all interested to meet on January 28, 7pm, at the Hilton Hotel to discuss their concerns.
Kyriacos Vasiliou, a chairman of the board of governors at the school, said he had seen the letters written.
“Before Christmas I sent an email to all parents, saying that I understand there are problems and differences of opinion and that those things will not be solved by sending anonymous letters to teachers which they had done.
“My door is always open to civilised discussion. I received no one since that time, no calls, emails, nothing.”
Vasiliou said his offer still stands if anyone wanted to talk to him. He rejected claims that the board had been taken over by AKEL members. “There are 10 people on the board of which I am chairman and there may be two people who are AKEL.”
Another member of the board who wished to remain anonymous said that there were three groups among parents and teachers at the English School:
“A left wing group with its own Trotskyite political agenda, on the end, a small group of parents who can’t accept Turkish Cypriots studying at the school and in the middle, a silent majority.”
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008
Can someone go to this meeting and let us now what was said???
Real change or just an experiment?
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Real change or just an experiment?
by zan » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:00 pm
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zan - Leading Contributor
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by CBBB » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:58 am
Another member of the board who wished to remain anonymous said that there were three groups among parents and teachers at the English School:
“A left wing group with its own Trotskyite political agenda, on the end, a small group of parents who can’t accept Turkish Cypriots studying at the school and in the middle, a silent majority.”
Although it is 10 years since the last of my sons finished at the English School, the above comment was accurate then and I would expect it to be accurate now from what I hear from friends with kids at the school.
There have been attempts for a long time to push the school more to the right, but so far they have been unsuccessful. I hope they stay unsuccessful.
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by zan » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:15 am
School parents cry ani-Hellenism
English School parents group cry anti-Hellenism
Initiative group has organised meeting to discuss alleged efforts to remove Greek identity from School
By Athena Karsera
A group of irate parents at The English School in Nicosia have called other parents and alumni to attend a January 28 meeting to discuss their concerns about alleged “de-Hellenising” efforts at the School.
However, the chairman of the School’s board of governors Kyriacos Vassiliou told The Cyprus Weekly that reports of the events that prompted the group’s concerns were “far from the truth.”
He said he would not attend the meeting, even as an Old Boy, unless he was personally invited and even then, would only consider it.
“I would like to state that these types of allegations and rumours do the School no good at all,” Vasiliou said.
The group made their views known through a website, www.englishschoolnews.com. They also sent out an invitation to the meeting to around 500 parents. The invitation and website state that those sharing the group’s concerns were welcome to attend.
Vassiliou acknowledged problems at the School, but said he was certain that these could be solved through dialogue.
Reports that he had been approached before the launch of the website and that nothing had come of these meetings were incorrect.
“Three people have come to me to discuss problems on a personal level without pinpointing their specific concerns”.
Vassiliou said the number of parents involved was immaterial: “The damage this is causing to the School is the same”.
The initiative group appears to have won support from others according to comments left on the page. There are also comments expressing the opposite view.
Other parents have spoken out in the press and said that they do not share the group’s concerns. Chairman of the English School Parents Association, Sophocles Hadjisophocleous, told reporters that the group had employed “unorthodox” methods by bypassing the Association to vocalise their complaints. He said that, so far, only anonymous letters on the concerns had been sent to the Association.
Hadjisophocleous also said that neither he nor the Association had been invited to the meeting.
According to www.englishschoolnews.com: “This website was created by parents of English School pupils who are concerned about a group of teachers’ oppression of pupils”.
The site said that these teachers had allegedly taken over the School’s Teachers Association and were carrying out “an obvious effort to force their personal and political party opinions on pupils in relation to issues such as the Turkish invasion, Eoka, the national heritage of Cyprus, religion and other important issues of a similar nature”.
The parents said that the School had always been multicultural and that they did not understand why some symbols were suddenly being forbidden, including the Greek flag and the cross.
Other sore points were stopping the teaching of Vassilis Michaelides’s classic poem ‘July 9,’ the removal of religious icons from classrooms and replacing traditional holidays with Turkish Cypriot holy days along with forbidding the singing of the national anthem.
Greek flags are also no longer permitted at the Michalakis Karaolis memorial within the School grounds, the parents said.
The webpage also said that group members had complained to the School’s authorities in the past but had been ignored.
The meeting will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia at 7pm on Wednesday, January 28.
Drop ins:
These types of allegations and rumours do the School no good at all
Parents concerned about a group of teachers’ “oppression of pupils”
Symbols including the Greek flag and cross have been forbidden
Caption:
DIVIDED OPINIONS: Some parents at The English School have expressed concern about policy changes while others say the worries are unfounded. (Photo by Stefanos Kouratzis).
English School parents group cry anti-Hellenism
Initiative group has organised meeting to discuss alleged efforts to remove Greek identity from School
By Athena Karsera
A group of irate parents at The English School in Nicosia have called other parents and alumni to attend a January 28 meeting to discuss their concerns about alleged “de-Hellenising” efforts at the School.
However, the chairman of the School’s board of governors Kyriacos Vassiliou told The Cyprus Weekly that reports of the events that prompted the group’s concerns were “far from the truth.”
He said he would not attend the meeting, even as an Old Boy, unless he was personally invited and even then, would only consider it.
“I would like to state that these types of allegations and rumours do the School no good at all,” Vasiliou said.
The group made their views known through a website, www.englishschoolnews.com. They also sent out an invitation to the meeting to around 500 parents. The invitation and website state that those sharing the group’s concerns were welcome to attend.
Vassiliou acknowledged problems at the School, but said he was certain that these could be solved through dialogue.
Reports that he had been approached before the launch of the website and that nothing had come of these meetings were incorrect.
“Three people have come to me to discuss problems on a personal level without pinpointing their specific concerns”.
Vassiliou said the number of parents involved was immaterial: “The damage this is causing to the School is the same”.
The initiative group appears to have won support from others according to comments left on the page. There are also comments expressing the opposite view.
Other parents have spoken out in the press and said that they do not share the group’s concerns. Chairman of the English School Parents Association, Sophocles Hadjisophocleous, told reporters that the group had employed “unorthodox” methods by bypassing the Association to vocalise their complaints. He said that, so far, only anonymous letters on the concerns had been sent to the Association.
Hadjisophocleous also said that neither he nor the Association had been invited to the meeting.
According to www.englishschoolnews.com: “This website was created by parents of English School pupils who are concerned about a group of teachers’ oppression of pupils”.
The site said that these teachers had allegedly taken over the School’s Teachers Association and were carrying out “an obvious effort to force their personal and political party opinions on pupils in relation to issues such as the Turkish invasion, Eoka, the national heritage of Cyprus, religion and other important issues of a similar nature”.
The parents said that the School had always been multicultural and that they did not understand why some symbols were suddenly being forbidden, including the Greek flag and the cross.
Other sore points were stopping the teaching of Vassilis Michaelides’s classic poem ‘July 9,’ the removal of religious icons from classrooms and replacing traditional holidays with Turkish Cypriot holy days along with forbidding the singing of the national anthem.
Greek flags are also no longer permitted at the Michalakis Karaolis memorial within the School grounds, the parents said.
The webpage also said that group members had complained to the School’s authorities in the past but had been ignored.
The meeting will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia at 7pm on Wednesday, January 28.
Drop ins:
These types of allegations and rumours do the School no good at all
Parents concerned about a group of teachers’ “oppression of pupils”
Symbols including the Greek flag and cross have been forbidden
Caption:
DIVIDED OPINIONS: Some parents at The English School have expressed concern about policy changes while others say the worries are unfounded. (Photo by Stefanos Kouratzis).
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by bill cobbett » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:16 am
The website referred to ( http://www.englishschoolnews.com ) is in greek! Bizarre for an English school. 
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bill cobbett - Leading Contributor
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by zan » Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:45 am
English School parents fight back
By Elias Hazou
A GROUP of English School parents and alumni voicing concerns about the “preservation of the school’s Christian and multicultural nature” have sought to set the record straight over their views.
Calling themselves the English School Parents and Alumni Initiative, the group says that a number of teachers are trying to push a specific political agenda on students.
The views allegedly being imposed on pupils are understood to be left-wing, which deviate from the standard curriculum regarding the history of the island.
Some of the group’s grievances include the banning of symbols like the Greek flag and the cross, the removal of religious icons from the classroom and the national anthem.
The English School began as a multicultural school for all children of Cyprus. After the 1974 invasion, Turkish Cypriot children stopped attending, until 2003 when they were able to cross again to the free areas.
On its website (http://www.englishschoolnews.com/) the initiative posted an announcement “for the purpose of avoiding any misinterpretation or distortion, whether intentional or not, of the objectives of the Initiative”.
Its first point reads: “Not only does the Initiative not aim at the exclusion of the Turkish Cypriot students from the School, but it considers their smooth accession and integration in the School community, which has already been successfully effected, to be valuable and beneficial.”
But some teachers, the group says, are abusing their power by promoting their own views on the inter-communal disturbances of the 1960s and of the role of EOKA, with what is perceived as an undue emphasis on the fact that atrocities were also committed by the Greek Cypriot side.
The initiative thinks it has been misrepresented and portrayed as nationalists or Greek Orthodox zealots.
“Nothing could be farther from the truth. We only ask that teachers leave their politics at home,” a source close to the initiative told the Sunday Mail.
The group is holding a meeting at Nicosia’s Hilton Hotel on 28 January. Invitations have been sent out to some 500 parents of English School parents, and the initiative expects a high turnout.
But Kyriacos Vassiliou, chairman of the school’s board of governors, categorically denies any attempt at indoctrination. He says that repeated calls to the initiative for a “civilised discussion” have gone unanswered, although a couple of concerned parents did meet with him in private.
“I am extremely saddened that this sort of climate is being created. Frankly, I don’t know if they know the meaning of the term ‘exchange of views’,” said Vassiliou.
Instead, some teachers have received anonymous letters accusing them of trying to influence their students. The school says that because the letters are anonymous it cannot examine them on principle.
On the surface, the two schools of thought see eye to eye on many things. Both agree that the school should be multicultural and embrace students from different backgrounds - not only Turkish Cypriots, but also Armenians, Maronites etc.
But behind the scenes, it is the tactics employed by either side - if the term is applicable - that have served to poison the climate.
For instance, the Sunday Mail has learned that alarmist rumours began circulating that a picture of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, would be posted on the school grounds.
It appears that the rumour was started after someone posited, for argument’s sake, that if the school was indeed multicultural, then Ataturk should be depicted alongside Greek symbols. Far from suggesting that this should be done, the point of the argument was that one should tread a fine line when dealing with nationalist imagery.
On the flipside, it is said that several teachers have been trying to disseminate pro-AKEL propaganda in classrooms, with the board’s tacit backing.
One of the complaints concerns the visit of AKEL member, Rolandos Katsiaounis, who was invited to speak at the end of October to celebrate Cyprus’ independence, a month late and without the national anthem.
According to the group, in his speech Katsiaounis said that there had been no Turkish invasion in 1974. Allegedly, he also told students that the national anthem belonged to a different country (Greece) and that it would never be heard again at the school.
Of the 10 members of the board of governors, it’s understood that three are AKEL sympathisers, three with DIKO, two with DISY, one with socialists EDEK, and there is one Turkish Cypriot.
Meanwhile the school has employed the services of an American consultant, who is to assess integration so far and make her recommendations to the board.
Integration at the school seems to have gone relatively smoothly, without major problems - and it’s plausible that the pupils themselves have been caught in the crossfire.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
By Elias Hazou
A GROUP of English School parents and alumni voicing concerns about the “preservation of the school’s Christian and multicultural nature” have sought to set the record straight over their views.
Calling themselves the English School Parents and Alumni Initiative, the group says that a number of teachers are trying to push a specific political agenda on students.
The views allegedly being imposed on pupils are understood to be left-wing, which deviate from the standard curriculum regarding the history of the island.
Some of the group’s grievances include the banning of symbols like the Greek flag and the cross, the removal of religious icons from the classroom and the national anthem.
The English School began as a multicultural school for all children of Cyprus. After the 1974 invasion, Turkish Cypriot children stopped attending, until 2003 when they were able to cross again to the free areas.
On its website (http://www.englishschoolnews.com/) the initiative posted an announcement “for the purpose of avoiding any misinterpretation or distortion, whether intentional or not, of the objectives of the Initiative”.
Its first point reads: “Not only does the Initiative not aim at the exclusion of the Turkish Cypriot students from the School, but it considers their smooth accession and integration in the School community, which has already been successfully effected, to be valuable and beneficial.”
But some teachers, the group says, are abusing their power by promoting their own views on the inter-communal disturbances of the 1960s and of the role of EOKA, with what is perceived as an undue emphasis on the fact that atrocities were also committed by the Greek Cypriot side.
The initiative thinks it has been misrepresented and portrayed as nationalists or Greek Orthodox zealots.
“Nothing could be farther from the truth. We only ask that teachers leave their politics at home,” a source close to the initiative told the Sunday Mail.
The group is holding a meeting at Nicosia’s Hilton Hotel on 28 January. Invitations have been sent out to some 500 parents of English School parents, and the initiative expects a high turnout.
But Kyriacos Vassiliou, chairman of the school’s board of governors, categorically denies any attempt at indoctrination. He says that repeated calls to the initiative for a “civilised discussion” have gone unanswered, although a couple of concerned parents did meet with him in private.
“I am extremely saddened that this sort of climate is being created. Frankly, I don’t know if they know the meaning of the term ‘exchange of views’,” said Vassiliou.
Instead, some teachers have received anonymous letters accusing them of trying to influence their students. The school says that because the letters are anonymous it cannot examine them on principle.
On the surface, the two schools of thought see eye to eye on many things. Both agree that the school should be multicultural and embrace students from different backgrounds - not only Turkish Cypriots, but also Armenians, Maronites etc.
But behind the scenes, it is the tactics employed by either side - if the term is applicable - that have served to poison the climate.
For instance, the Sunday Mail has learned that alarmist rumours began circulating that a picture of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, would be posted on the school grounds.
It appears that the rumour was started after someone posited, for argument’s sake, that if the school was indeed multicultural, then Ataturk should be depicted alongside Greek symbols. Far from suggesting that this should be done, the point of the argument was that one should tread a fine line when dealing with nationalist imagery.
On the flipside, it is said that several teachers have been trying to disseminate pro-AKEL propaganda in classrooms, with the board’s tacit backing.
One of the complaints concerns the visit of AKEL member, Rolandos Katsiaounis, who was invited to speak at the end of October to celebrate Cyprus’ independence, a month late and without the national anthem.
According to the group, in his speech Katsiaounis said that there had been no Turkish invasion in 1974. Allegedly, he also told students that the national anthem belonged to a different country (Greece) and that it would never be heard again at the school.
Of the 10 members of the board of governors, it’s understood that three are AKEL sympathisers, three with DIKO, two with DISY, one with socialists EDEK, and there is one Turkish Cypriot.
Meanwhile the school has employed the services of an American consultant, who is to assess integration so far and make her recommendations to the board.
Integration at the school seems to have gone relatively smoothly, without major problems - and it’s plausible that the pupils themselves have been caught in the crossfire.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
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by DT. » Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:47 am
Its nice to see Zan take such an interest in my old school.
I'll be at the meeting Zan with a few others from the alumni. I'll let you know what was said since you're so interested.
I'll be at the meeting Zan with a few others from the alumni. I'll let you know what was said since you're so interested.
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DT. - Leading Contributor
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