The unilateral decisions taken by the English School administration must be immediately lifted

 

Statement by Giorgos Loukaides, AKEL Parliamentary Representative after his visit to the English School where he met with the striking teachers

7 October 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

We have come here to express our full solidarity with the teachers of the English School, who are on strike against the authoritarian practices, intimidation and threats of the administration and management of the School.

Unfortunately, these unprecedented actions in effect are targeting the right to trade union organisation, since the persecution of the President of the teacher’s trade union has begun because she was simply fulfilling her trade union duties.

We therefore demand that all the procedures that have been initiated for the dismissal of the President of the teacher’s trade union be immediately lifted, thus creating conditions for a dialogue between the School’s staff, management and administration on the issues at stake.

As AKEL we have raised the issue with members of the Council of Ministers so that the President of the Republic can intervene immediately, who has appointed the current Board of the English School and who has the responsibility to convince the Board that such practices are anachronistic and have no place in the 21st century in a state governed by the rule of law.

AKEL will continue to try to get the President and members of the Cabinet to intervene so that the measures taken by the administration against the staff are lifted immediately and thus the way can be paved for dialogue, so that the English School can return to normality and to what the teachers themselves first want and desire to happen, namely for normal conditions so that children can return to their classrooms where they should be.