Many famous Cypriots have graduated from Famagusta Namık Kemal High School.

As the first Turkish Cypriot secondary education institution in Famagusta, the school was initially founded as the Famagusta Middle School (Turkish: Mağusa Ortaokulu) in 1944.

It was initially a single room appended to the Gazi Primary School building.

The British colonial government of the time provided the monetary resources required to expand middle schools with a further three year groups, thus establishing high schools in the process.

After the incident made national news, the parents wrote a letter to Rauf Denktaş, the head of the Assembly, apologising, and stating they would ensure their children returned to school.