New high school opens in Lefkoşa

A BRAND new school, called the Esin-Leman High School, was opened with a ceremony on Tuesday evening.

The school, which is located in the Lefkoşa suburb of Kızılbaş, has a total of 20 classrooms and four laboratories.

It was built by husband and wife Sadık Arık and Esin Sanver Arık, and was handed over to the state in a ceremony attended by President Ersin Tatar, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Parliament Speaker Zorlu Töre, Finance Minister Alişan Şan, National Education Minister Nazım Çavuşoğlu, Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister

Dursun Oğuz, and Labour and Social Security Minister Hasan Taçoy.

The ceremony began with a minute of silence for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Turkish and Turkish Cypriot war martyrs, before the flags of both

Turkey and the TRNC were raised to the tune of the national anthem. President Tatar then made a speech, in which he said that “Turkish Cypriots suffered a lot and migrated but always looked to the future with hope”.

He went on to say that he hoped the “good deed” by Mr and Mrs Arık would “set an example for others”.

Mr Üstel also thanked the Arık family for building the school, and said that the

“Turkish Cypriot spirit of solidarity is still alive today”.

Mrs Arık, in her speech, said that it is important to “raise bright generations”, and dedicated the school to her late parents. The school welcomed its first pupils on Wednesday morning.