Crackdown on illegal tutors starts in earnest

POLICE charged two more teachers yesterday after they were caught giving illegal out of hours tuition to students.

Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou confirmed that officers armed with search warrants raided two houses in the Famagusta area, after they received a tip off that teachers there were engaged in giving ‘extra’ lessons without a permit.

Officers found the two teachers giving 11 students private tuition yesterday afternoon.

Police also arrested a retired teacher on Monday after they found the pensioner teaching five children at his home without a permit. He now faces charges and a fine for running an illegal private institute.

Officers have conducted raids on several houses across the island as part of the government-led crackdown on the illegal practice.

Justice Minister Doros Theodorou warned last week that teachers who continued to “play hide and seek” by giving out of hours lessons would find themselves behind bars.

Petros Kareklas, Permanent Secretary for Education said there had been “very close”
cooperation between police and the Education and Justice Ministries to “put an end to these violations once and for all.”

“We have passed on any information we have regarding any reports of these goings-on to police.”
Reports in the local press have claimed that illegal tutoring nets teachers on the island over £30 million a year, creating a large amount of non-taxed income.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.