Education Minister Costas Hambiaouris said €10m would be allocated in the next three years for schools in Paphos, as he toured the district on Saturday to inspect various ongoing projects.
“Our aim is to be ready to welcome pupils with the new school year starting September,” the minister said.
Having visited numerous facilities in the district, Hambiaouris said he was satisfied with the progress of the work, noting however, that there were some delays.
The minister visited Neophytio and the Fourth primary schools where he was briefed on the progress of the installation of fencing.
He then travelled to Emba to see how the work to create new departments at the technical school was progressing.
Projects at schools located in the town of Paphos were progressing well, he said, but some others needed to be expedited.
He said he has received assurances from the local school board that procedures will be concluded this week.
The minister said he was not satisfied with progress at the Emba technical school and procedures had to be sped up.
“The money was allocated a long time ago,” he said.
Hambiaouris said the school will be ready in September but he asked the head of the community council to expedite work to install fencing and to finish painting.
Some €250,000 were set aside for fencing, painting, and certain changes and extensions, he added.
Emba community leader Antonakis Nikifirou assured the minister that contractors will be starting work in the coming days.
The chairman of the district’s school board, Michalis Charalambous, assured the minister that the fencing will be installed before the schools opened in September.
The decision to install fences in all schools was made after two 11-year-old pupils were abducted from their school in Larnaca in September 2018. A man was arrested and was sentenced for 16 years in jail. The boys were returned unharmed.
It had also been decided to place guards at the entrances.