9 Out of 10 Foreign Students in Cyprus Struggle with Greek

Significant gaps in Greek language proficiency have been identified among the vast majority of primary school students in Cyprus for whom Greek is not their native language.

According to Philenews, data from a Greek language program conducted this year by the Educational Research and Evaluation Center of the Pedagogical Institute reveal these deficiencies.

The program was part of the Ministry of Education’s policy to support immigrant students, aiming to help these children achieve a satisfactory level of Greek so they can effectively communicate and learn in school.

The main focus of the program was to assess the Greek language skills of students who are not native speakers.

Results for the 2023-2024 academic year showed that a staggering 91.5% of students have a Greek language proficiency below the desired B1 level. Starting from the new academic year, these students will be enrolled in remedial education programs.

Approximately 8.5% of students have achieved a B1 level in Greek.

At this stage, 3,525 students from public primary schools participated in the program.

Regarding the program's key component—the final assessment of students who had previously attended remedial classes to improve their Greek language skills—the results indicated that 46.4% of these students reached a B1 level. Meanwhile, 18.3% achieved an A1 level, and 35.3% reached an A2 level.

The survey was conducted with 2,070 students.

The study, conducted during the 2023-2024 academic year, utilized diagnostic assessments titled "Speak Greek I," which were carried out from February to April 2024 and were based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) grading scale.