Syllabus

Syllabus

KASA High School supports the social integration of refugees and asylum seekers through education with the slogan “education empowers you” and “education is everyone’s privilege”. For KHS, which has been operating since 1961, the process of supporting refugees comes naturally, given the displacement experience that the founder of the School and his family went through themselves because of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus in 1974.

‘Open Doors’ is an innovative secondary education programme introduced by KASA High School and supported by UNHCR and the organisation “Hope for Children”. The Memorandum of Understanding which was signed on Thursday, the 8th of March 2018, between the UNHCR and KASA High School, ensures the protection of refugees in Cyprus and offers them access to quality learning, education, and skill-building opportunities.

The High School offers a three-year school programme, from Year 10 to Year 12. After the successful completion of Year 12, students can receive a High School Leaving Certificate which is accredited by the Ministry of Education of Cyprus, and they can, therefore, pursue their studies in a college or university in Cyprus or abroad.

Due to the fact that most refugees do not have any school documents certifying previous education, KASA High School has been granted special permission from the Ministry of Education of Cyprus to accept students after successfully passing a placement test in Mathematics & English.

KASA High School, recognising the significance of education and considering it a basic human right, has initially offered 20 scholarships to refugees and asylum seekers for the school year 2018-2019.

The syllabus of the Open Doors programme is approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus, and it is designed to address current issues that refugees and asylum seekers experience all over the world, such as social anthropology, post-traumatic stress disorder, victimology, civic orientation, and personal, social and health education.

Additionally, students have compulsory subjects such as Mathematics, History, and informatics (from beginner to advanced level), as well as Greek as a Foreign Language (three levels). Students gain a basic understanding and knowledge of these subjects which help them to integrate better into society. First-year students have thirty-two (32) teaching periods per week. Seventeen (17) periods are given to compulsory subjects, two (2) periods to elective subjects, and thirteen (13) periods to technology and lab subjects of specialty. For the second year, twenty (20) periods per week are given to compulsory subjects while students can choose one (1) elective subject taught for two (2) teaching periods per week.

Students also attend their technology and lab subjects of specialty for eleven (11)  periods per week. In total, they must complete thirty-three (33) teaching periods.

The syllabus for the last year of Open Doors has twenty (20) periods given to compulsory subjects, two (2) periods to elective subjects, and eight(8) periods to technology and lab subjects of specialty.