Installation of air conditioning units in schools to begin ‘within days’

The installation of air conditioning units in schools is to begin within the next few days, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said on Sunday.

Speaking at student union Pofen’s annual conference, she said the first units will be installed in Nicosia within the next few days, and that “several” schools will have air conditioning units installed by September.

She added that studies are being carried out regarding different schools’ and classrooms’ requirements alongside the government’s policy decisions on the matter.

With this in mind, she said that “through the process which took place in recent months, we will automatically be able to proceed with other schools, since we have reserved the required funds for the installation of air conditioning units.”

In statements made last month, she had said the air conditioning units’ installation would cost €45 million, and that a total of 200 units would be installed by August.

The stated aim was to install air conditioning units in a total of 650 schools, with an average of 20 units to be installed per school. This would mean 15,000 air conditioning units in total would be installed, with the government planning to accomplish this within three years.

Looking ahead to the next school year on Saturday, Michaelidou said the government is “on a very good path”, and that her ministry aims to start the next school year “without a staffing problem”.

“Most of the books are already there, so there won’t be a problem in that regard in the first few days,” she added.

Additionally, she said teacher training for new lessons, including financial literacy, and an upgrading and expansion of schools’ German language offering, as well as measures to allow for the offering of counselling for primary school pupils, will all begin in August.

She also touched on the matter of higher education, saying the government is taking steps to “improve and upgrade” it “at multiple levels”, with new announcements to this end to be made “within days”.

Asked about plans to offer English-language courses at the University of Cyprus, she said the matter will be referred firstly to the legal service and then to parliament for a final decision to be made.

She then indicated her support for the plans, saying her priority is “equal treatment for all academic institutions”.

“Public universities should be able to offer foreign language study programmes, and for this reason, part of our strategy is the upgrading and support of public higher education, as well as the private sector,” she said.