AKEL meeting with a POED delegation

 

Numerous and pressing outstanding issues in public education

29 July 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

AKEL discussed the outstanding issues in public education at yesterday’s meeting with a POED Teachers Union delegation.

The main topic of discussion was the new system for appointing teachers. AKEL and POED both agree that the Ministry of Education has shown appalling procrastination in tabling a specific proposal that would rectify the many distortions of the current system, ensures the smooth and effective staffing of schools beyond 2027, whilst at the same time not victimising thousands of teachers.

Furthermore, the issue of teachers on indefinite contracts and the safeguarding of their employment rights was discussed, in line with what applies in the rest of the public service. On this point, the General Secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, recalled the two relevant legislative initiatives undertaken by the Party in recent years, which, however, the Anastasiades and Christodoulides governments both opposed, who referred them to the Supreme Court.

During the meeting, reference was also made to the implementation of the regulations governing the new system for the evaluation of teachers and educational work. Both sides expressed their concern, as, yet again, a delay on the part of the Ministry had been noted regarding the readiness to implement the relevant provisions of the regulations.

Finally, reference was also made to the issue of Special Education, for which a draft bill has been pending for years to be prepared and tabled in Parliament, by the government, which will effectively modernise the existing framework and respond to contemporary scientific and pedagogical guidelines for supporting children with disabilities and their families.

It was agreed that AKEL and POED would remain in constant communication so as to ensure the Ministry’s commitments are fulfilled, to address the serious outstanding issues that remain unresolved, and to ensure the provision of high-quality public education.

The AKEL delegation also included MPs and members of the Parliamentary Committee on Education: Christos Christofides, Head of the Education Affairs Bureau and member of the Party’s Political Bureau, AKEL MP’s Anastasia Hasikou and Ephraim Christou.

29 July 2026