Nicosia, Cyprus. Etek president Constantinos Constanti called for long-term planning of school infrastructure after an Audit Office report found that some prefabricated classrooms have been in use for more than a decade.
Constanti said prefabricated classrooms could address emergency and temporary needs but should not become a permanent solution to school housing requirements.
Call for assessment and construction
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday, Constanti called for a comprehensive assessment of school housing needs, the construction of new facilities and, where necessary, the planned expansion of existing schools.
“The quality of school facilities is not a luxury. It is a basic prerequisite for quality education,” Constanti said, adding that the response could not be the continued addition of temporary classrooms.
Audit Office findings
Constanti’s comments followed an Audit Office report that identified shortcomings in the planning and oversight of school infrastructure.
The report said increased pupil numbers, a rise in children with migrant backgrounds in some areas and the expansion of compulsory pre-primary education had contributed to overcrowding in certain schools, leading to the use of prefabricated classrooms.
Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou said the issue was not the use of prefabricated classrooms itself, but that solutions introduced as temporary had in some cases become permanent.
Education ministry response
Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said prefabricated classrooms were necessary in cases of overcrowding while permanent school buildings were being upgraded or expanded.
“There is nothing negative about having prefabricated classrooms where there is overcrowding because they help us implement our education policies,” she said.
Michaelidou said the ministry had delivered new school buildings effectively over the past three years after decades of neglect and that efforts would be intensified further in future budgets.