Looking back from the "wisdom" and the "safety" of the early
21st century, at the history of special education in Cyprus, we
are privileged to be able to note a series of parallel
developments and influences that have shaped it into what it is
today. Starting in 1929 with the establishment of separate,
independent and charity run special schools, like many other
countries before it (Phtiaka 1997), Cyprus reaches in 1999 the
stage where a number of pressure factors (Table 6) lead the
State to establish new legislation supporting the integration of
children with special needs in the mainstream school system.
This 70 year old history can be divided into four stages for
ease of reference (Table 1). The first stage (Table 2)
officially begins in 1929 with the establishment of the School
for the Blind by the wife of the English governor of the island
at the time Lady Storrs. Like many of the schools that follow,
the School for the Blind in its early days is run as a
charitable institution that offers primarily care