Govt under fire for youth camp scheme
THE government has come under fire for planning to send 3,750 students to Turkey to take part in youth camps, while schools in the TRNC have been closed for months to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19.
National Education and Culture Minister Olgun Amcaoğlu announced that up to 2,750 secondary school students from North Cyprus will be able to attend “Çanakkale National Struggle Camps” while 1,000 high school and university students are invited to “Common Culture Camps”. The camps, which are being jointly organised by Turkey’s Youth and Sports Ministry and the TRNC’s National Education and Culture Ministry, will take place in July, August and September, a written statement from Mr Amcaoğlu said.
The move was criticised, however, by opposition People’s Party MP Jale Refik Rogers. Speaking during a TV interview, she said: “We are talking about camps when we haven’t started face-to-face education in our own country.
“Nothing has been done about our children’s psychological and social development and we can’t provide enough education about our own country’s culture.
“There is a serious inconsistency here and it should be questioned. I’m not saying that the camps shouldn’t be held, but if we can easily send children to a country where transmission [of the coronavirus] is much higher, why haven’t we restarted face-to-face education when the number of cases is between five and 10 [a day]?
“We will continue to ask this question. We are at such a point that while children going to private schools, from pre-school to high school, can receive education, children in state [schools] cannot receive education. Opportunity inequality is growing like an avalanche.”
Recalling that Mr Amcaoğlu said that schools will open on September 6, Mrs Rogers stated that no information has been shared about whether or not preparations are being made.
She pointed out that Covid-19 cases could rise again with the opening up of the tourism sector.
“It is necessary to plan for the gradual arrival of higher education students to the country before September, rather than leaving it to October-November when the cases will increase.
“One of the biggest mistakes made last year was allowing arrivals without quarantine for [stays of up to] three days in October-November, when upper respiratory infections also increased. Making this move during that risky period caused an increase in infections.”
Criticism also came from the “Left Movement” which said the decision to send children to camps in Turkey this summer is “unacceptable”.
In a written statement Left Movement education secretary Nuray Özgeçen said: “The Ministry has the courage to take more than 3,000 students to Turkey, where the number of [coronavirus] cases is much higher, but failed to show the same courage to open schools for face-to-face education and take the necessary precautions throughout this year, even when the cases were low.”