CCTV cameras will be rolled out in 10 high schools across Limassol, as staff have been dealing with hooded figures setting fire at the premises, it emerged on Wednesday.
Head of secondary technical education Dr Ilias Markatzis told CNA the measures are part of efforts to clampdown on increasing phenomena of delinquency.
He detailed in one case, individuals with their faces covered were throwing flares into the school.
One of them led to a tree catching fire outside of the premises but with foliage on the side of the school. Staff obliterated the flames before the fire services got there.
In a second case “which in my view was more serious”, Markatzis said, was when 15 hooded figures approached the school.
“The had tyres which they set on fire and threw outside the school fence. Two or three of them climbed over the fence to push the tyres into the school.”
Health and safety staff used fire extinguishers to deal with the flames however the perpetrators ran away long before police got there.
Markatzis said the group did not seem like high school students “however no one can know, because their faces were covered.”
He suggested the fires may have been linked to celebrations used to mark the end of the school year.
The incidents took place during the day, but there are guards in plenty of schools during the afternoons.
“There are also patrols that drive by the school to see if there is anything suspicious.”
The aim behind the cameras according to Markatzis is to observe whether this will deter those who damage schools and if so, cameras will be rolled out across more schools.
“Many measures are being taken to minimise these phenomena. Of course, prevention is always key. A huge effort is being undertaken at least for the children attending school, to cultivate a different mentality.
“If anything, guiding students to understand how much harm these acts cause, how wrong they are, so that we can win them over and not engage in such acts,” he concluded.
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