Students demonstrate after six expelled

Scores of students from various schools gathered on Friday morning outside Paphos Technical School to protest the expulsion of six students for “delinquent behaviour” earlier in the week.

The school’s headmaster Stefanos Eleftheriou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that a delegation of students, under police supervision, went to his office to discuss the issue.

It was explained to them that the issue is in the hands of the relevant department at the education ministry, and will be examined in the next few days, he said.

The students argued that the matter of the expulsion was not thoroughly examined, with Eleftheriou explaining the decision was made after the testimony of many students and teachers.

It is up to the appellate body to examine in detail whether the procedures were followed or whether they’ll make a different decision, he said, adding this is expected to happen on Tuesday.

He explained they will examine “whether the school has followed the correct procedures and whether a correct decision was made”.

He said that a representative of the school will be present during the examination of the decision, alongside the parents, who have the right to appear and support their children.

Earlier in the week, Elefftheriou said that the children were “involved in an incident about 15 days ago which resulted in the serious injury of two students”.

In addition, it has been alleged that one of the six was involved in Monday’s incident where a pupil threw a chair at a teacher’s head.

On that particular incident, Eleftheriou told CNA that the chair was thrown while pupils were filing out of a classroom.

He said the pupil had told school staff that “he did not intend to hit his teacher on the head, but simply threw the chair mindlessly and without purpose.”

The teacher was taken to the Paphos general hospital’s accident and emergency department, where he was given first aid and later discharged.

According to the school, the six expelled students have the right to transfer to another school. Also, according to regulations, they have the right to appeal the decision to the education ministry.