EDUCATE THE EDUCATORS: THE FIRST SEMINAR ON TRANSPARENCY AND EDUCATION CONDUCTED IN CYPRUS

The first seminar on "Corruption, Transparency and Education" was held on May 28, 2016 at the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus by Transparency International-Cyprus (TI-C).

TI-C has included in its Strategic Plan for 2016 the important issue of education in an effort to raise awareness and build capacity for primary school teachers on Transparency, corruption and education.

The program is designed to be integrated in the broad objectives of the Ministry of Education in Cyprus. All related thematic areas of each taught subject were identified and material was prepared in an effort to assist the teachers as to what to discuss in each subject. The aim is to raise awareness for grade 5 and 6 pupils on topics such as integrity, objectivity, nepotism, corruption, bribery, transparency, etc. Teachers have also been provided with teaching material, classroom posters, and audio visual material.

The program was pilot tested for 3 months at a primary school in Nicosia and the deputy headmistress who ran the program shared with the participants her suggestions as well as the benefits derived from incorporating this material in the teaching material. She also shared her enthusiasm and the fact that her students became more alert, listened to the news and discussed with their parents cases of corruption that were in the media.

It was suggested to the teachers participating in the seminar that they can organize composition, art, poetry competitions, as well as play writing and acting of relavant topics. The aim of the programme is to raise awareness for children and young people to respect the laws and develop their moral fibre.

The presenters at the first seminar on May 28th were Mrs Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou who read the Director of the Pedagogical Institute welcoming address, Argiro Apergi, Dr. Maria Krambia-Kapardis (Chair of the Board of TI-C), Maria Konstantinou (officer at TI-C) who presented the suggested programme and Maria Stasinou (teacher) who discussed the results of the pilot at a primary school in Nicosia district.

Given the success of the first seminar, TI-C looks forward to conducting more seminars for interested teachers who will act as the force to building capacity for the youngsters and ensure that they will not tolerate corruption.

Transparency International – Cyprus (TI-C) was established in 2011 and is an independent, neutral non-governmental, non-partisan, non-profit organization legally registered in the competent bodies of the Republic and is the national chapter of the organization Transparency International. TI-C contributes to the strengthening of society, improving the quality of public and private governance in Cyprus, and promoting transparency and integrity. TI-C is not affiliated with other groups, platforms, think tanks, associations or other organizations. The organization remains faithful in contributing to the strengthening of society and improving the quality of public and private governance in Cyprus by promoting transparency, integrity and taking responsibility.

For any press enquiries please contact

Dr. Maria Krambia-Kapardis, Chair of the Board
Transparency International-Cyprus
T: +357 22 025772
Ε: [email protected]