Cabinet will discuss the ongoing crisis at the English School next week, according to reports which surfaced on Friday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that President Nikos Christodoulides has “been informed” about the matter, and that the government had said that “actions and decisions will focus on the well-intentioned interests of the school’s pupils”.

The crisis surrounds the claim that members of the school’s board of governors attempted to intimidate headmaster Stuart Walker into admitting a child who had failed the school’s entrance examinations.

According to news website Reporter, three members of the school’s board of governors tendered their resignation on Friday afternoon, saying they had “no involvement” in the debate over the child’s admission, and that they had done so “for reasons of sensitivity”.

The reports of the government’s involvement in the matter surfaced a day after newspaper Phileleftheros claimed that in light of the claims, the government was considering relieving the board of governors of its duties if it does not resign first.

The newspaper had added that the government wishes for the issue “to be closed as soon as possible”.

Walker had said earlier in the week that he was “subjected to what I consider to be coercion and intention to influence entrance exam results”.

“Four members of the board of management had children sitting the English school examinations. Three children passed … and one did not. After the results were published excluding this child, a group of five board members met and requested that [deputy headmistress] Popi Grouta meet with them,” he said.

He added that when he returned to the school, he was met by the parent of the child who failed the examination, while other board members “tried to convince” him to allow the child to join the school.

He said he had eventually backed down after an hour of arguing, saying, “have it your way”, before writing a message to the chair of the board of governors which read that the child “will be given a place against my better judgment. That pressure was unconscionable”.

He then said that given the way the situation has played out, “I have to renege on that commitment”.

“The integrity and good name of the school is greater than any damage done to one individual. If the decision to provide a place for a board member’s child that everyone knows did not make the cutoff as published was upheld, there would be no trust left in the school,” he said.

As such, he said, it is his intention to inform the school community that the results of this year’s entrance examinations will remain as initially published, meaning that the child in question will not be admitted to the school.

Board chairwoman Joanna Demetriou then responded, saying the allegations are untrue.

“It is regrettable that views expressed by a number of board members in an informal setting after the publication of the results have deliberately been misrepresented and misinterpreted. Whilst concerns being raised is understandable, any claims of coercion are unfounded,” she said.

She added, “any attempts to tarnish the integrity of the procedure, members of the board, and myself as chair, through unjustified comments and misrepresentations, are made intentionally to mislead and cause harm”.