MPs identify overcrowding, security issues at Limassol schools

Problems at Limassol primary schools were discussed on Friday during a visit by MPs, who identified overcrowding and security issues as pressing challenges. The first stop for members of the House education committee and representatives of parents’ associations and teacher union Poed was the third primary school and nursery school in Ypsonas, followed by a visit to schools in Omodos. Chairman of the committee Diko MP Chrysanthos Savvides said the school in Ypsonas was built with 13 classrooms with an additional ten prefabricated classrooms, while the nursery school had two rooms with an additional four prefabs. Earlier this week, following heavy rainfall, one of the classrooms flooded, he said. Head of the parents’ association for the third primary school Constantinos Kareklas said the situation with overcrowding was worsening and the school was working at 130 per cent of its capacity with a total of 456 children. Poed president Myria Vasiliou said the school had been designed for a smaller number of students and in order to accommodate a large number, all workshops had been cancelled. Vasiliou called for proper planning, saying that “resources need to be found because all of this raises very serious safety issues” for children and staff alike. “The state should at last roll up its sleeves and start thinking about how to fix things and essentially support our public schools,” she added. Savvides pointed out that prefabricated classrooms were not adequate and no solutions had been channelled. “There is no vision. Plans should have been made for decades ahead and the problem is getting worse […] We will keep filling our schoolyards with huts,” he said. Kareklas said the government seemed unable to offer solutions and that the problems were affecting the children, particularly during breaks, with “accidents happening every day”. The first stop for members of the House education committee and representatives of parents’ associations and teacher union Poed was the third primary school and nursery school in Ypsonas