Sexual abuse victim ‘still at same school as abuser’

A high school pupil who was sexually abused by his classmates is still at the same school as his abusers a month and a half after the incident, Dipa MP Alekos Tryfonidis said on Thursday.

Tryfonidis was speaking after a House education committee meeting and explained that the victim “cannot go to class and cannot go to school.”

“He cannot have a normal life because our procedures are delayed,” he said, while also making reference to complaints of sexual harassment by school pupils against their teachers in some cases.

Thursday’s meeting focused on the need to “create a structure which will allow for children who exhibit extreme behaviour” to be transferred away from their schools, before subsequently being “reintegrated” when the time is right.

The committee reportedly issued an “ultimatum” to the education ministry that such a structure be created by June.

Such a structure does not exist at all in Cyprus at present, despite plans having been drawn up on paper, and Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said plans are being prepared for an “alternative programme” to be created for children who must be removed from schools.

“Soon, we will have a proposal for an alternative programme … which will allow a pupil to come out of school, attend their lessons [elsewhere] and be supported by specialists, and then come back,” she said.

In addition, she said the government will create an electronic file for every student, which will follow them from the age of four until they leave high school.

This file, she said, will allow for information from all services, including social welfare services and psychiatric services, to be visible in one place, and to have access to “direct information” about each child.

She added, “our primary concern is prevention and timely intervention in matters of violence and delinquency. Our concern is that schools are safe for all. We cannot tolerate violence and delinquency, especially extreme incidents on school grounds.

“It is unthinkable for us to be fighting to improve learning outcomes and the atmosphere of schools while at the same time tolerating incidents of violence which make victims of our children and embarrass our teachers.”

The meeting comes in advance of an expected announcement regarding the creation of an online platform through which children and parents will be able to report bullies.

Michaelidou said on Wednesday that her ministry is in “cooperation with Greece”, where an equivalent platform was unveiled earlier this week.

On the Greek platform, Parents of primary school-age children are able to report cases of bullying against their children, while middle school-age and high school-age children are able to report cases of bullying against themselves, Greek education ministry spokeswoman Christiana Georgaki told the Cyprus Mail.