![](\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/situation-in-rizokarpaso-schools-very-serious.jpg\")
By Iole Damaskinos and Nikolaos Prakas<\/p>\nBy Iole Damaskinos and Nikolaos Prakas<\/p>\n
The government will take all necessary action\u00a0as soon as possible for Rizokarpaso schools it emerged on Tuesday after interventions by Turkish Cypriot officials have been consistently taking place, inhibiting teachers from doing their job.\u201cThe government took immediate action\u00a0from the beginning, we have been informed, and all the facts are being investigated and we will take all the necessary action as soon as possible,\u201d government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said a day after the issue arose.On Monday, it emerged that Turkish Cypriot officials had entered into Greek Cypriot schools unannounced\u00a0in Rizokarpaso to inspect the books being used.Since last May, support for Greek Cypriot schools\u00a0in Rizokarpaso has been obstructed Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said earlier in the day, also referring to the\u00a0latest incident\u00a0of inspections by Turkish Cypriot officials, reported on Monday.According to the ministry, officials, who could not be identified, entered the pre-school, middle school, and secondary school and \u201cbegan to check everything, books, notebooks, classrooms, as well as electronic and other teaching materials.\u201dAdditionally, they said, the officials \u201cisolated teachers and\u00a0subjected them to continuous questioning.\u201dThese actions \u201csimply confirm what we were saying [and what] we discussed at the level of the European Parliament,\u201d Michaelidou said.\u201cI personally was invited to [speak at] the [parliament] with the help of our MEPs, to present this aspect of the Cyprus problem, [one] of the dramas we have been living for 50 years,\u201d she said.The minister said\u00a0the situation had been confirmed as\u00a0\u201cvery serious\u201d and that since May no visits by [education ministry] inspectors have been allowed, nor training of teachers onsite, nor repairs of their buildings or other support.Due to the severity of the problem, the matter has been taken over by the ministry of foreign affairs, Michaelidou said.Some confusion surrounds the ongoing saga with some reports suggesting that teachers at the schools in question are themselves\u00a0not enamoured of frequent ministry checks.The north\u2019s \u2018authorities\u2019 do check all the books that come into the schools and have in the past\u00a0banned history and English books.The books are checked by the north and approved for use for two years. If a book is not approved or there is problem, it might have some pages removed, and teachers have to work around it.The north\u2019s foreign ministry is not blocking inspectors, according to this analysis, however, the recognised protocol is for the Republic\u2019s foreign ministry to file a request with the UN for visits.Asked to comment on information about a new incident with the occupying army in Achna, the spokesman said that \u201cany information is being investigated to see whether it is correct\u201d.Earlier reports suggested that the Turkish army were monitoring works being done by British Bases forces in the sovereign base area near Achna.Asked if there was any news on the issue of Pyla, the spokesman replied in the negative, adding that \u201cwe are in contact with the peacekeeping force at every opportunity and we reiterate what we have said from the beginning that\u00a0the full implementation of all the provisions of the Understanding is in the interest of both communities.\u201dFollow the
\nCyprus Mail on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Cypriot government has pledged to take all necessary actions regarding the situation in Rizokarpaso schools after Turkish Cypriot officials were reported to have interfered with the functioning of Greek Cypriot schools, including unannounced inspections and questioning of teachers. This interference has been ongoing since May, with the officials inspecting books, notebooks, classrooms, and teaching materials, and isolating teachers for questioning. The severity of the issue has led to the involvement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The north’s authorities have a practice of checking all books entering the schools, occasionally banning or requiring modifications to them. The Republic’s foreign ministry typically requests permission for visits through the UN, according to protocol. Additionally, there was a mention of the Turkish army monitoring works by British Bases forces near Achna, and a statement on the situation in Pyla, emphasizing the importance of implementing all provisions of the Understanding for both communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[652,132,460,461,353,924,325,279,3,413,191,405,950,250,415,658,899,951,433,133,268,414],"class_list":["post-3323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-army","tag-athena-michaelidou","tag-bases","tag-british","tag-british-bases","tag-buildings","tag-check","tag-comment","tag-cyprus","tag-cyprus-problem","tag-divided-island","tag-education","tag-education-minister","tag-google","tag-government","tag-history","tag-interest","tag-rizokarpasso","tag-school","tag-schools","tag-turkish-cypriot","tag-un"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n