With reservations about the timing and “not particularly optimistic,” the leaders of the three teachers’ organizations—POED, OELMEK, and OLTEK, noting that the problem with the appointment system was created by flawed legislation and should not be resolved in a way that would create even more distortions.
At a joint press conference held today at the POED offices, the three teachers’ organizations called on the government to finally heed the concerns of thousands of teachers, to take the organizations’ well-documented positions seriously, and to present a fair and comprehensive proposal. They also called on the public to participate in the protest they have planned for October 8, noting that their protest was announced on September 29.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
POED President, Myra Vassiliou, responding to a question, said that this morning all three organizations received an email invitation from Athina Michaelidou to attend a meeting tomorrow where they would be presented with a proposal and not a bill—as she emphasized—while she also referred to “public relations ploys.” The President of OELMEK, Kostas Konstantinou, said that the timing of this invitation raises questions, undermines the Ministry’s credibility, and referred to “maneuvers,” , while the Ministry of Education has failed to meet all the deadlines for resolving the issue.
On September 11, Mr. Konstantinou added, during a meeting with OELMEK, Ms. Michaelidou had committed to submitting a proposal within 10 days. “When you give a student a timeline,” he continued, “and you don’t stick to it, you lose your credibility. I believe this is what’s happening throughout the rest of society as well. I’ve noticed over the past three months that I’ve been involved in this issue, things are just said in a perfunctory way. No one checks to see if anything was actually done. Personally, this bothers me.”
Ms. Vassiliou said that the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting with the Minister of Education will be evaluated by the organizations’ governing bodies as well as at a joint meeting. “If a positive development does indeed emerge—one that is substantial enough to alter our plans for the mobilization—we will revisit the matter.” What is needed, he said, is a draft bill that addresses all aspects of the issue, adding that “the delay is more than just dangerous.”
The President of OLTEK, Panagiotis Lysandrou, stated that the mobilization sends the message that they want a proposal that will satisfy all the demands they have put forward regarding the permanent employment of open-ended contract workers, as well as those of contract workers and substitutes. There are other serious issues as well, he added, such as the consolidation of the lists of eligible candidates and those eligible through the new exams, and the fact that the registry referred to by the Minister is time-limited, as
The Secretary-General of POED, Haris Charalambous, said that what they are asking for is self-evident: that qualified teachers continue to work and have the prospect of permanent employment so that they can perform their duties normally. “Is this a demand? Are we asking for something unreasonable?” They know, he added, that the Ministry of Education, the government, and the political parties are aware that if this massive distortion—which they themselves created—is not corrected, by 2027 we will have schools without teachers, “no substitutes, no contract teachers, and no staff for all-day programs. Is this what society wants? We ask everyone to stand with us because what we are asking for is not a union issue at all. It concerns public education and its quality.”
OELMEK Secretary-General Andreas Mavratsas said that they have not seen the Legal Service’s opinion cited by the Ministry of Education regarding the unconstitutionality of provisions that teachers’ organizations have requested bebe adopted—such as permanent employment through the closed registry— nor any opinion from the Legal Service stating that it accepts the consolidation of those who will take the exams after 2027 with those who took them under the existing system into the list of eligible candidates. “We expect that tomorrow, when we go to the meeting, the Minister will have these opinions ready so that we can submit them to our legal advisors for evaluation.”
When I talk about this issue, I think of Maria, my colleague, a literature teacher, who is 42 years old, has been working here for three years, and does an excellent job in the classroom,” said the President of OELMEK. “Now someone has told her that she must take a theoretical exam to become a tenured teacher, I find this unacceptable.” The government has failed to implement what it passed into law 10 years ago, and no previous administration has addressed the issue despite letters from the organizations. All we’re asking, she said, is that “since the state is at fault, it can’t just come along now and create a new system, thereby creating new victims.”
The POED President also noted that 100 contracts at all-day schools went “unclaimed” this year due to the uncertainty the new system is causing among teachers, and that “all-day schools are on life support because of this situation and are being kept afloat by permanent teachers in an effort to support the institution”
POED, OELMEK, and OLTEK, said Myria Vassiliou, who read the joint statement, chose today’s World Teachers’ Day for the press conference.
For nearly 10 years, she added, successive political leaderships at the Ministry of Education were aware that the transitional period had an expiration date, were aware of the problems arising regarding adequate staffing in public schools, recognized the distortions in the system—which were all too evident and were constantly growing—and knew that thousands of teachers remained in a state of uncertainty. “Nevertheless, there was no timely, comprehensive, and responsible plan to address the issue definitively and fairly,” she noted.
Ms. Vasileiou stated that the current political leadership of the Ministry of Education, starting in 2024, has committed to the teachers’ organizations that there will be a dialogue and that it will submit a specific proposal for the definitive resolution the issue. “Two years later, what we have before us is a vague text, lacking the necessary labor safeguards and offering no clear answer regarding the future of thousands of teachers,” she added.
He went on to say that the creation of a “closed registry,” which would provide only the possibility of temporary appointments, with no prospect of permanent employment, is unacceptable. “Truly, what responsible government can accept—or even promote—procedures that lead to the creation of teachers on ‘indefinite contracts’? Indeed, when the government itself refuses to enact legislation protecting them from dismissal on grounds of redundancy, thereby perpetuating a situation of injustice and unequal treatment between employees in the civil service and those in the education sector,” she said.
The organizations, Ms. Vassiliou continued as she read the joint statement, do not accept that correcting the distortions resulting from the appointment exams will be done at the expense of teachers who have already taken the exams up through 2025. “It is obvious that including in the same list teachers who were examined under the existing system and teachers who will be examined under a new system, with different philosophies and characteristics, raises serious issues of unequal treatment and fairness. “A change in the system cannot shift the burden onto teachers who have already successfully met the requirements of the existing framework,” he pointed out.
Referring to experimental measures and stopgap solutions, which could create serious staffing problems starting in September 2027 and beyond, with the clear risk of schools lacking sufficient teaching staff, Ms. Vasileiou raised questions on behalf of the organizations, such as which teachers will staff public schools when the need is many times greater than the number of teachers currently on the listof those eligible for appointment in fields such as elementary school teachers, language arts teachers, math teachers, and other specialties, which teachers will staff the optional all-day elementary schools, when for the past three years their staffing has been carried out exclusively from the list of eligible candidates.
“All of this is happening at a time when more and more young people are turning away from the teaching profession, both in Cyprus and worldwide. At a time when there is a decline in interest—even among graduates who have studied the subject—in joining the Education Service and serving in public schools. And at a time when staffing shortages are already being identified as a result of this situation.”
Public schools, he continued, need teachers who love what they do, who—despite the challenges and difficulties—stand by every child, support them, and help them move forward. It needs, he added, teachers who will not be discouraged by job insecurity, teachers with prestige, dignity, and job security, who will be able to teach children—and the citizens of tomorrow—that it is the duty of us all to strive for a better tomorrow. Teachers, he said, who feel respected by their employer—in practice. We need a public school system that is strong, high-quality, and adequately staffed. “A public school system that will not be at risk of facing serious teacher shortages due to political decisions that do not adequately take into account the real needs of education,”, she said.
Ms. Vassiliou said that POED, OELMEK, and OLTEK neither sought nor seek conflict as an end in itself, but they make it clear that any potential injustice against teachers will provoke a strong reaction and decisive intervention by the three teachers’ organizations.
The mobilization on October 8, he said, sends a clear message: “We will not tolerate any tampering with the public school system and its staff. It sends the message that unilateral decisions or proposals that create injustices or victimize teachers cannot be accepted.”
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Source: CNA
