The House education committee has changed the time it will be meeting on Wednesday, following objections by parents’ associations who said a planned work stoppage by teachers over their new evaluation plan would cause serious inconvenience and unequal treatment for students who could not get to school after the strike.

The strike was scheduled for 7.30am till 11am with a protest outside the House while the committee was in session. Parents complained, saying it was impossible for all 48,000 high school students to get to school at 11am on Wednesday and urged the ministry to give the students the day off.

The House committee meeting has been moved to noon, so that the schools would not be affected.

The education ministry said the right of workers to strike and protest was respected, however this work stoppage was “unjustified”.

The teachers’ unions will now have to change their decisions on the time of their work stoppage.

Earlier on Monday, the Cyprus confederation of parents’ associations said “we fully respect the institutions and the right to demand, however in no case do we agree to the loss of teaching time.”

“The children have a right to education and in no case should this right be impacted by a conflict concerning trade union demands,” it added.

The confederation met on Sunday to discuss Oelmek’s decision to strike from 7.30am till 11am on Wednesday, affecting about 48,000 students.

It said it was impossible for 96,000 parents to leave work at 11am to take their children to school, leading to “unequal treatment for those who will not be able to get there”.

“The presence of a small group of students after 11am does not serve any educational purpose,” the parents said and called on the education ministry to allow children to remain at home on that day.