in-cyprus 24 September 2020 - by Maria Bitar
Between €7 million and €14 million will be claimed by the parents of the 2020 conscripts, who were not dismissed early from their military service in order to study at British universities this year and benefit from the lower tuition fees.
At the same time parents are concerned with the bullying their children are experiencing in some camps due to the fact that some officers when informed who would be dismissed early for their studies (based on the decision of the Council of Ministers for their temporary dismissal) reassigned the youths stigmatising them when it became common knowledge.
Regarding the compensations parents intend to claim in case it is not possible to transfer the enrolments for next year with this year’s tuition fees, Christos Michael, a member of the group of parents who were active through the Conscript Platform, stated to Philenews that if the affected parties are 100, they will suffer an average loss of €70,000 in which case the claim against the State will be €7 million.
If the affected parties are (as some claim) 200, then the claim will skyrocket to €14 million, he added.
This comes about as many, after the Minister’s decision for temporary/early dismissal of the conscripts that were to be enrolled in British universities, jumped the gun and went ahead and enrolled creating financial commitments with both universities and student dormitories, and that’s without accounting for plane tickets and other expenses.
Michael explained that those who enrolled made commitments toward the universities and the same applies to those who also booked their accommodation. These are the costs that have been paid and to which we are exposed, he added.
