The referral of the President of the Republic for the law on Elementary Education, which provided that from the school year 2026-2027 onwards, the responsibility for supervising and guarding the students who are inside the school before the start and after the end of the school hours would be held by the Ministry of Education, was accepted by the Parliament.
The reasons for the referral
It is recalled that the law was passed on March 26 with POED expressing strong disagreements, while it was referred back by the President on April 9, 2026 invoking Article 51.1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.
As noted in the referral, among other things, "the House of Representatives, in the exercise of its legislative work, cannot exercise any power of an administrative nature, which has been placed under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and the Council of Ministers, as is the case in the present case. When a law contains elements of administrative action, it is unconstitutional as it is considered that the legislative power intervenes in the area of the powers of the executive power. The determination of the daily opening time of primary education schools, the time of arrival of teachers and students in them, the issue of taking appropriate measures for the safe departure of students from schools and in general the issue of supervision and custody of children as well as the determination of the time frame for which this obligation exists are administrative regulations, which by their nature and characteristics fall under the exclusive competence of the executive power".
There are gaps – No one is responsible
In his statement to the Plenary, the rapporteur of the proposal, Alekos Tryfonides, said that he is very sorry to see this proposal being referred back while all of Cyprus wants children to have safety both in the morning and at noon.
"Especially at noon, when by the time the guardians and grandparents pick up the children, the cunning people come and talk to them sweetly. The Ministry considers it its primary concern, but for three years the consultations have not been fruitful. There are costs to do this. We never said that teachers should take on this role. Although children should be their primary concern to escape these dangerous phenomena. It may be strictly unconstitutional because it takes €50-60,000 to guard the children at noon. If we reject the referral, with their sensitivity, I believe that the President and the Minister of Education will accept it and proceed to consultations to find a solution for who will look after the children," he added.
In turn, the chairman of the Education Committee, Pavlos Mylonas, said that "at the moment there is no institution that has the responsibility of paying attention to and safeguarding the children during arrival and departure. There are gaps, which is why we will vote against the referral of the President."
In the end, the Parliament accepted the referral of the President with 33 votes in favour (DISY, AKEL, 1 vote from DIPA, 3 independents), 17 against (DIKO, ELAM, EDEK, Ecologists and 2 votes from DIPA) and 1 abstention of MP K. Efstathiou.
