Cyprus’s smallest school will open on September 14 for three pupils

On Monday, September 14, the primary school in the village of Kampos Tsakkistras in Nicosia district will open its doors to three pupils. It is the smallest school in Cyprus.

All three study in the same classroom, but follow different programmes: one child is starting first grade, while the other two are in fifth and sixth grade. Lessons are taught by the school’s only teacher, who is also its principal, Christiana Christoforou.

“All the children are in the same room. Some work independently while I work with the others. The school is very well organised, and the pupils learn to be independent precisely because it is small,” Christoforou said on the programme “Enimerosi Tora”. According to her, the main challenge in such a school is socialisation, which is why the school maintains close ties with other schools in Cyprus and abroad.

A pupil, Panayiotis, admitted that he likes the school’s proximity to nature, but would like to have more classmates.

Community head Yiannis Papadopoulos noted that keeping the school open gives families the opportunity to remain in the village instead of moving away, and thanked the state for preserving it. The mother of one of the pupils added that people need additional services in order to move to mountain villages: for now, the distance from major cities remains the main obstacle.