Private kindergarten owners have stated their opposition to the free compulsory preschool education from the age of 4, arguing that they will lose students and teachers, running out of business.
These remarks were made following the examination of the issue by the Parliamentary Committee on Education, where Minister Athena Michailidou presented the bill, explaining that the age of children will gradually decrease until 2030 and that European funding will be utilized until 2026.
Organized parents, along with the teachers’ union (POED), are supportive of this policy, demanding the strengthening of public education.
Specifically, the president of the Association of Private Preschool Education in Cyprus, Laura Heraclides, commented, “We are the last wheel of the wagon. They excluded us from subsidy plans for the coming years.”
The organization intends to hold meetings with the Ministers of Labor and Finance, as well as the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare. “There is a significant sustainability problem. Colleagues are discussing closing kindergartens to protest outside the Parliament. Everyone is outraged.”
Shee further stated that with compulsory preschool education, their members, who are nursery schools, will lose children over the age of 4 if they do not provide an approved program for preschoolers,
“Already, several parents have not enrolled their children to send them to public or community kindergartens.”
Private kindergartens will also struggle to find teachers after the creation of the 210 new classes planned by the Ministry of Education to implement this policy.
“There are already colleagues looking for a kindergarten teacher and cannot find one. Everything is against us. They will destroy us.”
Reservations regarding staffing and the form of education were expressed by the president of POED, Myria Vasileiou, emphasizing that for compulsory preschool to be implemented, community kindergartens must be converted to public ones.
Public education must be supported, Ms. Vasileiou said, stressing that public kindergartens must be staffed “properly administratively and all public structures and personnel must be provided for.”
She also mentioned the need to expand and upgrade existing facilities, disagreeing with the placement of prefabricated rooms.
POED also calls for the abolition of fees for all children under the compulsory school age (from 3 years old to the age defined for compulsory preschool) attending public kindergartens.
“The ongoing subsidy of children under 4 in private kindergartens creates an issue of unequal treatment of public kindergartens, especially in rural areas.”
They called on the Ministry to complete the expansion of compulsory preschool policy earlier than the decade.
Support for this policy was also expressed to Phileleftheros by the president of the Cyprus Federation of Parents of Public and Community Kindergartens, George Kyvidiotes.
“We are in favor, provided it is handled correctly. We want downward expansion so that attendance starts from the age of 4 and the strengthening of public education.”
Additionally, he said they agree with POED that community kindergartens should be turned into public ones. However, he noted, that it is important to have a better age distribution of children in the classroom.
Finally, he requested an increase in optional full-day kindergartens (a position also supported by POED), as well as summer full-day kindergartens.
The Legal Service reported to the Parliament that a bill was proposed by the Ministry of Education, which underwent legal review and received a favorable opinion.
