Newsroom
By Adriana Panteli
Just two weeks into the new school year, Cyprus’ Ministry of Education is facing fire on two fronts, from teachers resisting a new evaluation plan and from students angry over sweltering classrooms with no working air conditioners.
According to Kathimerini's Adriana Panteli, students staged a two-hour strike Monday, walking out of class with banners reading “Schools are ovens” and “Air conditioners are only for decoration.” Their union, PSEM, warned it will escalate protests if the government does not act quickly to fix broken cooling systems. “Things in the classrooms are very difficult, especially during heatwaves,” said student leader Georgia Grigoriou, who added that teachers and students are being forced to work in unbearable conditions.
The ministry has defended its handling of the issue, saying tenders are underway to upgrade outdated electrical systems before more air conditioners can be installed. Officials described the walkout as “untimely and inappropriate.” But tensions flared further when a fan reportedly fell from a classroom wall in Nicosia during the protest, fueling complaints that school infrastructure is unsafe.
At the same time, the ministry is clashing with teachers’ unions over its revised plan to evaluate educators and schools. Education Minister Athena Michaelidou urged unions to see the changes as “a common achievement, not a confrontation.” But the unions remain skeptical. OELMEK, representing secondary teachers, said it expects little to change in substance, while POED, the primary teachers’ union, insists several points, such as how principals evaluate staff, still need fixing.
The government says it wants consensus without abandoning the “philosophy” of the plan, but both teachers and students say patience is wearing thin. With classrooms still overheated and disagreements over how to measure teachers’ work unresolved, the Ministry of Education is staring down what could be a long, contentious school year.
