Final year students at the Laniteio lyceum staged a protest on Tuesday, boycotting the first two lessons of the day to express their dissatisfaction with the classroom conditions due to the heat and a rule preventing boys from wearing shorts.

The students gathered in the schoolyard, with male students calling on the school administration to allow them to wear summer clothing, while both boys and girls raised concerns about the lack of air conditioning in classrooms.

President of the Limassol school board Nicos Stylianides said Laniteio lyceum is not among the first ten schools in Limassol selected to receive air conditioning units.

Stylianides told the Cyprus News Agency that installing air conditioning at Laniteio requires the creation of an electricity substation, adding that the board will get in touch with the Electricity Authority (EAC) to formally address the issue.

In June, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said the installation of air conditioning units in schools was to begin over the summer with the aim to install 200 by the end of August.

Ten schools were selected in each district to have air conditioning installed before the beginning of the school year.

However, last week the Pan-Cyprian Student Co-ordinating Committee (Psem) called the issue “a mockery”, claiming that President Nikos Christodoulides and his cabinet “had not fulfilled promises made to them”.

“The bottom line is that the conditions in classrooms are inhumane. Unbearable heat, lack of fans and curtains and schools that resemble construction sites do not constitute the best learning environment,” Psem said.