Children Parents showed their “sadness and displeasure” on the situation, creating and leading to the teaching union Poed’s decision to stage a one-hour work stoppage, which is set to last from 7.30 and 8.25 on Monday morning.

During a press conference, Union head “Myria Vassiliou” said that this decision was taken to address how the pandemic has been handled at schools and consider the issues that the nursery and primary schools are facing.

However, the union of primary school parent’s associations did not take the news well, especially those who have asked for a more inclusive dialogue between everyone involved.

According to the “Frixos Zembylas”, head of the school unit, “Anything that develops distance among children and school unit is not acceptable as well as satisfactory.”

Moreover, he added that the parents identify the teacher’s right to strike and demand their rights.

“We just want to show our sadness and displeasure about the situation in general,” he said.

Mainly, “we have sadness because we lack discussion towards ensuring the smooth running of schools, and displeasure is because of the loss of school time and the hurdles it will cause parents on February 7, Morning.”

As per Zembylas, the parents aim to discuss with all other parties so the school can return to smooth operations, “keeping in mind the possibility of an escalation of measures from Poed’s side”.

However, Vassiliou had informed before only that the union would review the situation in the first 15 days and then they are going to decide about any further measures.

In the Press conference, she stated that the union has considered the education ministry actions in the last 15 days unsatisfactory to stick to the cabinet’s decision on the management of COVID-19 and the three core demands, which were highlighted earlier by vice-chair Apostolos Skouroupatis.

THREE DEMANDS:

The first demand of the union is for a good and quick process for replacing absent teachers to support the smooth running of school units and ensure school safety, as “teacher absences can create further security issues.”

The second demand is related to the coronavirus measures, especially for the nursery schools and special schools. The vice-chair highlighted that, unlike primary and secondary schools, nursery schools have no steps to stop the spread of the virus.

The union’s third demand is for installing ventilation systems in classrooms.

Lastly, Vassiliou highlighted that the union also demanded more support from the side of the school board, who have a significant burden on their shoulder with little or no help from the state.”