Parents are voicing complaints about the strict schedules at full-day schools, with some even saying that their children’s time for important extracurricular activities or even therapies is significantly reduced precisely because of this strictness.
Speaking on the issue on the “Alpha Kalimera” show on behalf of the Pancyprian Confederation of Parents of Elementary School Students, Yiannis Ioannou, noting that the Confederation receives complaints from parents on a daily basis.
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Referring to one incident, he said that a parent who contacted the Confederation reported that they pay 45 lepta for speech therapy with a private therapist —even though their child also receives speech therapy at school—and that, due to the strict schedules at full-day schools, their child ends up receiving only 20 minutes of speech therapy.
The Confederation raised this entire issue with the Parliament’s Education Committee, and it is now pending.
Mr. Ioannou also mentioned a case in which ten children stopped attending a specific all-day school because they were not allowed to leave five minutes early, at 3:00 p.m. (normally, children are picked up at 3:05 p.m.).
“The Ministry says it doesn’t have enough teachers to allow parents to come in at any time to pick up their children. That’s why we suggested, to make the process easier, adding one more hour, meaning that children could be picked up not only at 3:05 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., as is currently the case, but also at 2:30 p.m. It’s a simple solution, and we’re making things harder on ourselves.”
Mr. Ioannou emphasized that parents support and want full-day school, but they’re asking that this strictness be lifted because there’s no reason for it.
Regarding the proposal by the organized parents to add one more hour for picking up children, Mr. Ioannou said they had not yet received a response from the Ministry of Education, but they are waiting and hoping for a positive response to resolve the issue.
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