Cyprus

The Education System in Cyprus has four stages: pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher.

1. The present state of Pre-primary education

Today there are nursery schools operating all over the island, all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

2. Educational Rules.

According to the Education Acts for Elementary Education, Primary School means a state school financed and administered by the Government, which provides six year compulsory schooling to children who complete 5 years and 8 months of age. Gradually, over a two-year period, children will be entering class A’ of the Primary School at 6 years of age.

3. Special Education

The government policy is to encourage and support the integration of children with special needs into the ordinary educational system and provide them with the opportunity to grow and learn together with their "non-handicapped" peers. In the case of children with more severe needs, their local and social integration is supported by extra educational help offered by special or support teachers assigned to ordinary schools. Pre-school hearing impaired and autistic children are also partially integrated through their placement in special units attached to kindergartens and primary schools and part-time attendance of the ordinary class programme.

4. Public General Secondary Education

Public secondary education offers a six-year programme of instruction for children aged twelve to eighteen. Having a general education orientation, it is compulsory for the first three years when children reach their fifteenth birthday. In the last three years, it follows a more flexible and diverse orientation, catering to individual inclinations, aptitudes and interests. Attendance is compulsory for the successful completion of graduation requirements.