Students at Polis Chrysochous gymnasium and Kykkos A lyceum in Nicosia on Friday staged a walkout over broken fans and air conditioning units in the school’s classrooms, saying that the conditions have turned their classrooms into “ovens”.

In Nicosia students complained that air conditioners installed before the final exams at the beginning of the summer cannot be turned on because the school’s electricity system cannot cope, leaving in them in hot classrooms.

Children also walked out of classes at 10am in Polis Chrysochous, with students’ association Psem declaring they are “not second-class pupils”.

Alpha TV reported that “we have, unfortunately, complaints in many schools every day, both from teachers and from pupils, that the situation is unbearable in some schools”.

While air conditioning units have been installed at the school, students said “they do not work… due to the unsuitability of the electrical installations” which “cannot handle the load” of the power drawn by the air conditioning units.

Meanwhile, Psem is organising a nationwide walkout on Monday, saying that in many schools, “not only do the air conditioning units not work, the fans that used to be there have been taken away”.

“So, instead of taking two steps forwards, as far as the conditions of our education are concerned, we have taken two steps back,” it said.

It added that “the infrastructure in many, many schools is tragic”, adding that in some there are frequent power cuts, while in others plaster falls from the ceilings in classrooms.

“It is pure luck that until now, no one, no teacher or pupil, has been injured,” it said.

The education ministry responded in kind, describing the planned walkout as “truly surprising and puzzling”.

“For the first time, the government has taken the political decision to install and operate air conditioning units at all schools and at all levels. It was and remains unthinkable for us to continue the outdated policy of previous years, which deprived students of basic wellbeing,” it said.

It then added that the walkout will be “to the detriment of the pupils themselves”, and that what is needed is the support and cooperation of pupils, parents and teachers, so that the work which is underway can be completed smoothly and in the best possible way.

“The ministry’s doors are always open for any issue which concerns them … Measures such as walkouts do not help, especially when projects are already being implemented within specific timetables,” it said.

The walkouts follow a similar move in Larnaca on Wednesday when students at Makarios III high school refused to go to class for one hour to protest ongoing power outages caused by the school’s outdated electrical system, which they said left classrooms “unbearably” hot and without fans.

Students and parents at the school said the issues stem not from a lack of equipment but from an outdated electrical system that cannot handle current demand.