Cyprus would thrive with more boarding schools
A safe haven needs a place for the kids too
I realize that I might be writing this just as non-Cypriots resident here with the keenest interest in education might already have headed abroad for holidays. But it is something I have been thinking about for a while.
It came home to me early this week with a newsletter that landed in my inbox from Pavlos Loizou, chief executive officer (CEO) of ask-wire.com, a company with a huge database of property data. In his short analysis of the Cyprus real estate market, Mr Loizou made this important point.
“Projects are being approved at scale—without corresponding upgrades to schools, hospitals, or public services.”
He went on to name a locale where 360 residences are being built with no schools, hospitals or public services.
He has made similar points in public on LinkedIn before.
This reinforced what I have been thinking for a while, namely that Cyprus is missing a trick on boarding schools catering to the growing number of well paid non-Cypriot residents.
From evacuation hub to boarding school hub
The foreign minister, Constantinos Kombos, noted at a Bloomberg event on 1 July that Cyprus has managed four major evacuations in the past few years, including one in the past few weeks. I know from diplomat clients that Cyprus is considered to have managed them very professionally. Most of the evacuations are international staff located in the Middle East and Africa (remember Sudan)?
Cyprus could be leveraging its status as “the place to which everyone is evacuated” to offer a more permanent base, not only to international businesses but for the many other international and humanitarian organizations operating in countries around us. Or at least, they could offer a permanent base for their school-age children.
Sure, many of the humanitarian organizations have seen their budgets cut thanks to the death of USAID, the US’ primary aid office. But that also means they are looking to save money, spend perhaps less on education than the sky-high rates of neighbours, and know that their children are more secure to boot.
On that note, here is an interesting article on how the latest Israel-Iran clash has messed with the Gulf Arab countries’ branding as safe places to do business.
But to promote itself as the permanent safe haven for international companies and aid organizations, or for the children of internationally mobile staff, Cyprus needs more boarding schools.
(For the avoidance of doubt, I have no skin in the game. I am 100% state-educated myself (leading to a lot of personal hang-ups but that is another story!) There were no state grammar schools where I was living at the age of 12, so I went to the local state comprehensive. I didn’t have any pre-school education. I don’t have any offspring, so I am talking from the experience of watching friends and work associates.)
At the moment we have only one boarding school in Nicosia, one in Paphos, one in Limassol, none in Larnaca and one, strangely enough, in Protaras. Waiting lists for private English-language day schools are also said to be long, depending on the age of the children.
The relative absence of boarding schools means a number of things.
For international companies and organizations it is in theory going to be difficult to recruit any international staff with school-age children to live in Cyprus. Because there are not enough boarding school places, staff will worry about moving the kids at short notice when they are relocated elsewhere.
Or it could have the oppositive effect. If staff are attracted to work here by the safety of Cyprus relative to the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean, or further afield in the Gulf or Sub-Saharan Africa, the dearth of boarding schools means they are going be reluctant to move, because they would have to uproot the kids. You therefore risk a certain stagnation in your staff.
Either way, the relative absence of boarding schools means companies and international organizations face friction in getting and retaining the best to work either in Cyprus or in the region around us.
It also means that the education business goes elsewhere. Jordan is said to be the nearest place to Cyprus. Dubai is another.
The Tax Department has already thrown just over €400m in tax breaks for people who come to work here on high incomes. Many of those are young with school-age children.
Maybe the government could now consider giving tax breaks to building boarding schools and all the other infrastructure needed for a permanent base.
These will be highly paid “golden visa” foreigners who will actually live here, do legitimate work and contribute to the economy. They are far more valuable than the ones who used to fly in and out in the old “golden passport” days. Let’s make it as easy for them as possible to stay.
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