Coronavirus: Send kids to school, anti-mask parents told

Parents keeping their primary school children away from class in protest at the latest round of Covid-19 restrictions were on Tuesday urged to “think again” amid indications they could face legal sanctions.

The row spilled over into its third week as reports suggested that the police are to be notified of the absentees since education in Cyprus is compulsory up to the age of 15.

Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou on Tuesday criticised parents who are “depriving their children of education” and said they had a legal obligation to ensure they do attend.

Last week, Prodromou stated that “just 1.93 per cent of 47,232 primary school children were absent from school because of the mandates”. On Tuesday he reiterated that the figure remains at one to two per cent.

The divide between the state and parents opposed to the restrictions deepened late last month after the government announced that primary school children must undergo a weekly coronavirus test and wear a mask.

Parents are accused of withdrawing their children from schools in protest, but others claim that they wish to send their children to school – and are attempting to do so – but the school refuses to accept them, as they are not complying with the decrees.

According to Yiannos Georgiades, a lawyer who has previously challenged the health ministry’s decrees, the government has put the parents in a difficult position as they are not offering alternatives.

“If the measures are temporary, which the government says they are, why then can they not offer temporary solutions such as distance learning?” Georgiades told the Cyprus Mail.

“They previously stated how well the distance learning was implemented – so why not offer it again?” he asked.

Previous efforts by Georgiades to secure an interim order from the courts against a previous round of measures at schools was struck down, he says, because one of the judges reasoned it to be unnecessary as alternatives such as distancing learning were available.

For his part, Prodromou said it was “sad” that parents are depriving their children of education because they disagree on the use of masks and coronavirus tests.

Asked about police involvement on the issue, he stated that the education ministry is not involved in reporting parents to the police. But the law requires for the police to be notified whenever a child is absent for a certain amount of time.

He further stated that schools are operating as normal and great efforts were made to ensure that they remained open.

The minister appealed to the protesting parents to “accept the conditions which we’re all facing, no one wants to wear a mask, but it is a protective measure – especially for the children who are at school and are not vaccinated”.

He also said that vaccines for those aged five and above are to be made available, following an announcement late last month.

The vaccine is currently optional, but some parents are concerned that their children will be pressured into taking it as part of SafePass rules. Last month, the government announced that the SafePass was expanded to include children aged six and above.

Following November’s announcement, parents and other protesters blocked roundabouts while multiple schools were vandalised and attacked.