G. The Mission or Raison d’Etre of MEI

After the Armenian Genocide and the deportation of Armenians to the Middle East through the deserts of Syria, large number of children were orphaned, homeless, and without education. The primary purpose of the Melkonian Brothers to build a school was to gather some of these children under a roof and educate them. Their motive was altruistic: to reach out to the needy.

The successive calamities of the Armenian people, at the dawn of the 20th century, induced the Melkonian Brothers to consolidate their belief in the education of future generations. The geographical location of Cyprus and its proximity to other Armenian communities was vital in deciding to build the school in Cyprus and not in an Arab country.

They firmly believed that education was going to be the strongest weapon with which the future generations would defend themselves against any injustices. The survival of the youth was going to be determined by their skills to adapt to the continuously changing challenges in the world. They had the vision of capitalising on our human resources.

Diasporan Armenian reality changed over the decades and this evolution is reflected in the history of MEI. It started as an orphanage school in 1926 and evolved into a technical and vocational school. Having lost our intelligentsia by the 1920s, MEI played an important role in filling that gap and prepared people for the roles that society needed then: teachers, writers, poets, editors, public servants. But with the passing of time, with more integration and improvement of economic and social conditions of our communities in the region, Armenian communities are more in need of professionals who can survive the competitiveness created by globalisation. This is the challenge of MEI in the new millenium: to prepare Armenian youth for the international community, while at the same time involve them with our ethnic challenges. The Melkonian Brothers would have liked to see the coming generations ready to tackle the struggles of the international arena, while at the same time pursuing the ideals of the Armenian people.

The mission of MEI is infinite. Due to its dynamism, MEI has been able to reinvent itself over the decades to meet with the needs of our societies. Its cost-effectiveness now is measured through the academic standards required of all its students.