KTOS says that Turkey’s refusal to send money to the TRNC is the reason for the lack of teachers in state schools.
Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Havadis’ reported yesterday, that the Turkish Cypriot Primary Teachers’ Trade Union (KTOS) stated that there continues to be a shortage of primary school teachers two months after the start of the new school year.
The general secretary of KTOS, Sener Elcil stated that the Ministry for Economy, continues to refuse the demands for more teachers following instructions by the Turkish embassy in Nicosia which says that there is no money to be had.
The Teachers’ union has long been struggling to get a sufficient number of teaching staff including special needs teachers for state schools and has been highly critical of how mainland Turkey has prioritised its spending in the TRNC. Recently a grand new mosque was opened in Haspolat and the unions point out that:
“…….. 22 million Turkish lira (TL) have been put aside for the construction of only one mosque, while only 11 million Turkish lira (TL) are reserved for repairing all state schools…….”.
