SIR,--Having just spent three months in Cyprus, I find that
the recent riots in the colony give weight to an opinion widely held here, that education in Cyprus is seriously tainted by politics. The fact that the riots were largely caused by schoolchildren definitely suggests that the schools have been subject to a con- siderable amount of political agitation.
Education in Cyprus has for many years been almost entirely Greek or Turkish, even to the extent that the majority of school teachers in fact come from Greece or Turkey and are not Cypriots. Particularly in the Greek schools, the English language is scarcely taught at all despite it being, in theory, a com- pulsory subject. Many young Cypriots are thus educated as Greeks, by Greeks, and are taught nothing of the traditions or history of the country which has granted them its citizenship. Indeed many Greek school teachers openly teach their pupils to hate the British and to regard Cyprus as part of Greece.
If Britain is to retain Cyprus, and more important, the good will and loyalty of its inhabitants, we must ensure that young Cypriots are given the opportunity of seeing something of the finer side of British citizen- ship, even though their education may be basically Greek. To tolerate deliberate mis- representation of vital political questions by the teaching profession in a British colony would seem to be contrary to the whole system of British freedom of thought. — Yours faithfully, T. W. CNN
2057 Seychelles Guard Company, MELF 11
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