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Cyprus’s public schools risk opening in 2027 without enough teachers unless the government urgently rewrites a decade-old hiring law, the three main education unions warned on Monday.
Leaders of POED, OELMEK and OLTEK told a joint press conference they will still march on 8 October, even after Education Minister Athena Michaelidou emailed them a same-day invitation to a Tuesday meeting. They described the late offer as damaging the ministry’s credibility and said they expect only a proposal, not actual draft legislation.
“If this massive distortion created by politicians is not corrected, by 2027 we will have schools without teachers — no substitutes, no contract staff, and no staff for all-day programmes,” said POED Secretary-General Charis Charalambous.
The problem dates to 2015 reforms that created two parallel recruitment tracks. The transitional period ends permanently in September 2027, when the old appointment list disappears. Unions say exam pass rates cannot meet real classroom demand, particularly in literature, mathematics and primary education.
The strain is already visible. One hundred contracts for optional all-day primary schools went unfilled this year because candidates refused posts that offer no job security. Permanent teachers are currently covering those programmes to keep them running.
OELMEK President Costas Constantinou pointed to a 42-year-old literature teacher with three years of strong classroom performance who has now been told she must sit a theoretical exam simply to keep her job. “The state failed in what it voted for a decade ago,” he said. “It cannot turn around now and create new victims.”
The unions also challenged the ministry’s repeated claims of constitutional barriers. Officials cite Law Office warnings against granting permanence to long-term contract staff, yet the unions say those written opinions have never been shared for independent review. They expect the minister to produce them on Tuesday.
POED President Myria Vasiliou stressed that any outcome of the meeting will be assessed by the unions’ collective bodies. Only a complete draft bill that solves job security and fairly integrates candidates would change plans for the 8 October protest, which was announced on 29 September.
The organisations rejected any “closed register” that would leave teachers on indefinite temporary contracts with no path to permanence. They also opposed merging candidates who already sat the existing exams with those who would face a new system after 2027, arguing it would create unequal treatment.
Successive governments knew the 2027 deadline was approaching and watched the distortions grow, the unions said, yet failed to act. The current leadership promised a concrete proposal in 2024; two years later the unions say they have received only a vague text lacking real guarantees.
Unless Tuesday’s meeting delivers a full draft law, the three unions say thousands of educators will take to the streets on 8 October.
