The teachers will go on a one-hour work stoppage today, due to a new case of violence at the Technical School of Agios Lazaros in Larnaca.
According to the decision of the trade unions OELMEK and OLTEK, the teachers of Gymnasiums, Lyceums and Technical Schools will abstain during the fifth teaching period at 11.00.
According to the President of OLTEK, Panagiotis Lysandrou, in a meeting held last night by the leaderships of OLTEK and OELMEK, it was decided at 09.00 in the morning that the Secretariats of the two educational organizations would visit the Technical School of Agios Lazaros.
In a joint statement, the two educational organizations send the clear message that they will no longer tolerate the inaction of the Ministry of Education, at a time when the safety and health of both teachers and students are endangered, due to the increase in extreme violent and delinquent behaviors. .
The Educational Organizations intend to request an urgent meeting with the Minister of Education and the other educational partners to discuss the issue and to take specific decisions.
The nature of yesterday's incident has shocked us and the glass has now overflowed, said the President of OELMEK, Giannos Socratous, on the show "Protoselido" of Sigma.
The Pancyprian Confederation of Secondary Education Parents' Associations understands the indignation of teachers and supports the decision of the Educational Organizations OELMEK & OLTEK to abstain from classes, for a teaching period.
At the same time, it strongly condemns such inappropriate behavior, expresses deep concern, rings the alarm bell for the ever-increasing incidents of violence and states that it will support any efforts for immediate action.
Yesterday at noon, an 18-year-old student allegedly attacked a 17-year-old classmate, who asked for help from a teacher.
The teacher intervened to separate the two students, with the result that the 18-year-old, alleged as the perpetrator, attacked him.
A second teacher, who also intervened to stop the quarrel, was attacked by the 18-year-old.
The 17-year-old student was admitted to the TAEP of the Larnaca General Hospital, where he was found to have suffered a mild head injury and was detained for precautionary reasons.
The teachers went to a private hospital in Larnaca, where an examination revealed that he had a broken nose and a head fracture, and the other was taken to a private clinic in Nicosia, where he was found to have bruises.
The announcement of the OELMEK-OLTEK educational organizations is as follows:
It is with intense concern, concern but also with indignation that we have been watching lately very serious cases of violence and anti-social behavior in schools. The culmination of the long chain of incidents was yesterday's very serious episode of injury to a student and two fellow teachers by a student of a specific school.
The Educational Organizations OELMEK and OLTEK, after yesterday's very serious incident, decided to invite their members to go down today, Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in a one-hour work stoppage in all Gymnasiums, Lyceums and Technical Schools, in the 5th period, staff thus a clear message that they will no longer tolerate the inaction of the Ministry of Education and Culture, at a time when the safety and health of both teachers and students are endangered, due to the increase in extreme violent and delinquent behaviors.
Therefore, Educational Organizations intend to:
1. To request an urgent meeting with the Minister of Education and Culture to discuss the issue and to take specific decisions,
2. To request meetings with other educational partners (Parliamentary Education Committee, Organized Parents, Association of Directors, PSEM, etc.) for joint decisions and actions.
We note that the Educational Organizations have long ago formulated specific suggestions, which they forwarded to the Ministry of Education and Culture. Therefore, we call on the Ministry of Education to finally make use of these suggestions, in order to address the problem in an effective way and not through rough and fragmentary measures.
Finally, we take it for granted that the School Administrations and the teachers will take all the necessary measures for the Safety of our students, during this work stoppage.
ΠLeader: SigmaLive