A Limassol private school’s refusal to allow a certified classroom assistant for a child who needed one has prompted the Commissioner for the Protection of Children’s Rights to call for changes to the law — and the case has since been raised with the Ministry of Education, the relevant commissioners and the parliamentary Education Committee.
The school cited internal regulations in refusing the escort, even after the child’s mother offered to pay the escort’s salary herself at no cost to the school.
A Ministry of Education committee had assessed the child and certified that an assistant was necessary, writing to the school accordingly.
The child had been attending the private school since the age of four and was in Year 3 when the primary school refused. The family had already enrolled the child for the current year and bought all the necessary supplies — books, uniform and other items — before the school’s refusal.
The mother told Phileleftheros she is determined to fight for her child’s right to equal treatment in education.
The transfer to a public school became necessary after the child developed severe stress due to the atmosphere at the private school, she said. The child is now settled in a public school with an assistant, and the two are getting on very well.
Commissioner Elena Perikleous examined the case in detail and wrote to the Ministry of Education calling for corrective action.
She identified the core problem as a provision allowing private schools to define their own special education policies in internal regulations — something she said conflicts with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which binds signatory states to ensure that disabled people are not excluded from compulsory education and receive the support needed to participate effectively in the general system.
In her report, Perikleous called on the ministry to amend existing legislation to make special education provision mandatory for private schools.
“It is not acceptable for the competent authority — and specifically your Ministry — when a private school refuses to provide special education through its internal regulations, to simply mediate in order to find the most suitable school setting for the child,” she wrote.
“Changing school environment, especially mid-year, affects the stability of the child’s schooling rather than normalising it.”
Perikleous added that her office was informed the Ministry of Education has sought a legal opinion on whether private schools can lawfully refuse to provide special education — a move she described as surprising.
Cyprus has already ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she said, which automatically applies to all levels of education, both public and private.