The all-day school in Tochni was “shut down” 10 days after it opened due to… the teacher’s transfer, causing concern and upheaval for 25 families.
Speaking on the Alpha Kalimera show, Thalia Antoniou, President of the Parents’ Association of the Tochni Elementary School, stated that the problems began last year, when the school was “on life support.”
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“Last year we were on life support; this year we’ve died,” she said poignantly.
“We had the same problems, but we had some substitute teachers to fill in the gaps, so we got through the school year as usual. This year, although we started off normally, the permanent teacher at our school was transferred, and we didn’t have a teacher to continue running the full-day program, so they decided to shut it down.”
She explains that there was no prior notice, noting that a teacher and two other staff members had been assigned to oversee the full-day program, and ten days later they were informed that the teacher was being transferred.
“On Friday afternoon, we found out that our teacher had been transferred, and on Monday morning, without any warning, at 12:00 p.m., a message was sent from the school saying that you had to pick up the children at 2:00 p.m. because there was no teacher for the full-day program.”
When asked if there is any information regarding a replacement, Ms. Antoniou states that the position has been advertised four times and claims that there is no interest due to the differences between POED and the Ministry of Education.
On behalf of the Pan-Cyprian Confederation of Parents of Elementary School Students, Yiannos Ioannou states that understaffing is a widespread problem in all-day schools, but the situation in Tochni is the most dire.
“You can’t, just as the all-day program is starting, shut it down because you can’t find anyone to staff that particular school. It’s even more tragic to have a teacher there, to move forward with the process, to assign her to another school, and to leave a school in this state. I consider it an unheard-of situation to close a school simply because you haven’t planned properly.”
“The perennial problem we have with the Ministry is that proper planning isn’t done,” she notes.
“It’s not just in Tochni, but Tochni is the most recent and tragic example. All all-day schools are understaffed. In a school where there should be two teachers, there is only one; in a school where there should be five teachers, there are three. This is the case throughout Cyprus.”
As he notes, they still haven’t grasped what the problem is, and even when they find a teacher who isn’t on the list, they’re told that they can’t be hired because they aren’t on the list. She also confirms that the contracts for full-day school teachers are for 20 hours, not 29.
When asked why all-day schools are understaffed, Primary Education Inspector Maria Hatzipieri she explains the appointment procedures, noting that the positions are advertised and are filled by teachers on the waiting lists, and that these are part-time positions. She adds that these positions are filled by teachers already assigned to schools who work overtime, as well as by part-time teachers.
“We issue calls for applications again and again until we’re done,” she says, noting that a new call will be issued today as well.
When asked whether the closure of the all-day school in Tochni is a problem, she says that it is causing them anxiety and concern.
“The young woman in question, who had been there from day one, applied for and accepted a 20-hour position; later, a new position became available— a morning shift with a standard 29-hour contract, and she applied for it through the committee and got it—so she got something better. And the committee re-advertised her position on that very same day.”
Responding to a question about why not all positions are 29-hour positions, he states that it is not legally possible, as a ministerial decision specifies how many 29-hour and how many 20-hour positions are to be advertised.
“We continue to make very intensive efforts, and in fact, that Friday—the weekend in question—we were trying to find staff so as not to suspend its operations,” she states.
When asked whether teachers should have been informed in a timely manner of where they would be assigned so they could plan ahead and ensure everything ran smoothly, for example, if they knew in June what their assignments would be for September, she says that this is “food for thought.”
“These are certainly things to think about and consider for our future plans, certainly next year, but also now—as you put it—we must act accordingly, and these are precisely our efforts to improve the system, because the full-day program is very important.”
When asked whether kindergartens are adequately staffed, Senior Benefits Management Officer Fanos Kouroufexis he replied that the overwhelming majority of preschools for children ages 0 to 4—almost all of them—face a “life-threatening risk.”
“A life-threatening risk due to the practice of staffing full-day schools only after the school year begins. As the responsible agency, we have repeatedly informed our political superiors about this issue, because this year, last year, and the year before, we have been receiving—with increasing frequency—hundreds of messages from preschools, since staffing all-day schools—including preschools— as well as elementary schools, after the school year begins, means that someone who receives a job offer is already working somewhere else.”
He wonders why better organization isn’t in place, resulting in a chain reaction of problems, since staffing for all-day schools takes place in September.
The Chair of the Education Committee, Chrysanthos Savvidis, and committee member Nikos Kettiros commented on the issue during the broadcast.
