A HEADMISTRESS who claims she was forced out of her school has gone on hunger strike, protesting against what she sees as corruption within the Education Ministry.
Maria Roussou, 57, who has been the headmistress of the Phaneromeni School in downtown Nicosia since 2002, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail what had led her to take such drastic action, from her makeshift bed opposite the school.
“The problem began last November,” she said. “A mother of one of our pupils made a complaint over the school’s menu, saying her son was eating too much pizza. Because I was in charge of the menu and had approved it, a male teacher at Faneromeni said I was at fault. He then began to question my ability to run the school in general and he made a complaint to the Education Ministry, who looked into his concerns.
“This resulted in a lot trouble at the school, with the teachers split into two groups.
“The teacher who made the complaint against me had two fellow teachers supporting him and they started behaving terribly. In fact, a parent made their own complaint against the teacher, saying he took children out of class, without permission, to his home in order to watch videos. But because he knows people in the Education Ministry and is well connected, the complaint against him was just brushed under the carpet.”
Roussou said that the Ministry transferred her to the school at Ayios Kassianos on September 29, during the school year, “but the parents of children at the school objected to my appointment, saying they didn’t want me as they had heard rumours of trouble at Phaneromeni.
“I asked the Ministry to clear my name and to allow me back to Phaneromeni so I could collect my things, but to my horror, I found that they’d changed the locks to my office. When the Ministry failed to do anything to help me, I decided to protest by going on hunger strike outside the Ministry on October 6. A very senior Ministry official came outside to confront me and told me that she would start legal proceedings against me if I did not stop. She promised to clear my name and invited me to lunch. I believed her and accepted her offer and was then transferred to the Pedagogical Institute, as a researcher of inter-cultural education.
“I worked there for a week and waited for the Ministry to fulfil their promise to clear my name. They did not, so on Monday morning at 7am, I pitched a tent outside my old school and restarted my hunger strike. The children and their parents have been wonderful to me and support me and want me back.
“As a result of not eating, I have been feeling very dizzy since Wednesday morning and I have a stomach ache which comes and goes. I can also feel my heart beating very rapidly.
“On Wednesday night, an MP who had heard about the situation came to visit me and promised to bring the matter up in Parliament.
“The Ministry have now promised my lawyer that they will finally clear my name and give me a permanent job at the Pedagogical Institute and when this happens, I’ll stop.”
Savvas Nicolaides, director of Primary Education at the Ministry, hit back at Roussou’s claims, though, saying, “we are very surprised over her actions. A while ago, Roussou wrote a letter to us asking to be transferred away from the school, due to problems with other members of staff, so all we have done is comply with her wishes.
“Regarding her accusation that we are corrupt and give certain people preferential treatment, well this is just ridiculous and totally untrue.
“Even if she believes she is right, she is going about it the wrong way. It’s her duty as a teacher and especially as a head teacher, to teach children that disputes should be resolved through the justice system.
“We will be visiting her and will then discuss what course of action to take. I feel that she is trying to play the sympathy card with the children and this is just not acceptable.”
