Foundations for third of six new schools laid
FOUNDATIONS for the third of six new state primary schools promised by Near East Enterprises university magnate Dr Suat Günsel have been laid in Gazimağusa.
Prime Minister Ersan Saner, National Education and Culture Minister Olgun Amcaoğlu, other ministers, and government and military officials joined Dr Günsel and Near East representatives recently for a “magnificent” groundbreaking ceremony.
Like the other five, the school in Gazimağusa will be named after Dr Günsel, accommodate up to 500 students, on 18 dönüms of land, and will be donated to the state in a “fully-equipped” condition.
Work has already begun on two Dr Suat Günsel schools in Yenikent, in Lefkoşa, and in İskele, with three others planned for the Girne, Güzelyurt and Lefke districts.
The school in Yenikent, whose foundations were laid on March 19, is expected to be handed over to the National Education and Culture Ministry in mid-August, a Near East statement said, in time for the start of the 2021-2022 academic year in September.
“The Dr Suat Günsel Gazimağusa State Primary School . . . is also planned to be completed within a short time and made ready for education,” Near East stated.
Speaking at the ceremony, Near East
Enterprises board of trustees chairman Prof Dr İrfan Suat Günsel, Dr Günsel’s son, said: “While we are raising our children as wellequipped individuals to challenge the world . . . we continue to open new areas that will enable them to exist in their own lands without breaking from their roots, to establish a future and to carry our country further.”
The foundations of the remaining three state primary schools will be laid “as soon as the locations are determined” he added.
Mr Amcaoğlu said: “We have taken many decisions to take important steps to increase the quality of education as well as the quantity, that is, the number of schools.
“The decision of the Near East Enterprises and the Günsel Family board to build six public primary schools in six districts has lit the way for us.”
He also said that “foundations have been laid or agreements made” for a total of 15 new schools across the TRNC “in just six months”, six of which are being built by the Günsel family.
Mr Saner said that the Dr Suat Günsel state primary schools will provide a “modern education home with their facilities and equipment to a total of 3,000 students”.
He thanked the Günsel family for their “contribution to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.