Teachers’ protest closes schools today

Primary school and nursery teachers are staging a two-hour strike today, as a protest against the government’s refusal to agree to a reduction of their teaching hours. Teachers will stop work at 11.35 a.m. this morning and will march to the Presidential Palace where a memorandum will be given to President Clerides.

At 9.00 a.m. this morning a meeting of the teachers’ union POED will take place to a review of the situation and officials will then join the march to the Palace.

The Ministry of Education considers teachers’ demands as unacceptable because, according to a relevant survey, in the EU teachers in similar positions work more hours than those in Cyprus. Teachers however dispute the findings of the said survey, stating that they have also carried out a study in cooperation with MEPEY which showed different results.