SOCIAL WORKERS READY FOR SCHOOLS - PILOT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME BEGINS IN SOME SCHOOLS - Filenews 11/8 by Evangelia Sizopoulou
In September, the new school year begins not only for teachers and students, but also for a number of social workers, who will staff specific schools. In essence, this development is the implementation of the announcement by the Ministry of Education that schools will have social workers, who, in collaboration with educational psychologists, will offer their necessary and important services, with the aim of improving the situation with violence and delinquency, but also strengthening the mental resilience of children.
Following the announcement of the tender (information in a relevant report of "F") for the provision of social workers services in primary schools and high schools, which has been recently completed, the successful company has emerged, which will take office from September 1, 2026. According to the information we have, the contract was awarded to the company CODECA and the pilot implementation of the program will begin in the first phase, in five schools.
These are the primary schools of Pano Polemidia – Karmiotissa (in Limassol) and Kaimakli (in both circles, in Nicosia) as well as the Junior High Schools of Linopetra (Limassol), Faneromeni (Larnaca) and Palouriotissa (Nicosia).
It is also important that this pilot program will be evaluated during its implementation in schools, while the first official results are expected next December with the submission of the quarterly project report that will be submitted by the company that has undertaken the contract. It is recalled that in her statements, the Minister of Education, Athena Michailidou, since last January, referred to the placement of social workers in schools on a pilot basis, pointing out that the goal, in addition to improving the situation with the issues of school violence and delinquency that arise, is to support the mental resilience of students and teachers.
These are the main priorities.
''We continue a holistic approach, we do not go individually and piecemeal, everything we do supports our dual goal of a more effective school and a more inclusive school", the competent minister had stated at the time, among other things.
