Situation

As of March 27, 2022

Source: Ministry of Interior

Context

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth of Cyprus issued a statement on 15 March on the admission of students from Ukraine into schools of all levels. The Ministry, within the framework of the existing policy for the educational integration of children with immigration or refugee biographies, promotes the reception and integration of students from Ukraine and supports the school units, through the existing structures, programmes and educational material at its disposal. The Ministry’s website is available in Greek and English. An overview of the education system is provided in nine languages, including Ukrainian and Russian.

Preschool and Basic Education

The government wants to activate reception and integration teams which would include the school principal, psychologist and teachers using specific guidelines on how to integrate students who don’t speak the language.

As such, the government plans to help students integrate by offering counselling and psychological support, in coordination with teams from the Ministries of Social Welfare and Ministry Health, as well as offer Greek language classes. An individualized learning plan will be developed based on the needs and competences of the child.

To address the language barrier in classes, the Government is considering hiring teachers or students who speak Ukrainian or Russian or foster peer-mentoring. All relevant materials to facilitate communication between parents and schools are being translated in Ukrainian. In addition, teachers are encouraged to use the Moodle platform to access trainings programmes on Greek language education and multilingualism. Finally, the government underlines the importance of not bullying Russian students.

The EU issued operational guidelines for the implementation of Council implementing Decision 2022/382, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection (2022/C 126 I/01). As such, EU Member States shall grant access to their education system to persons under 18 years old enjoying the temporary protection status under the same conditions as their own nationals and EU citizens.