Trade union points to staff and material shortages in vocational high schools

The Turkish Cypriot Secondary Education Teachers’ Union (KTOEÖS) reported shortages of staff, equipment, and materials in vocational high schools, issuing a press release this morning at Rauf Raif Denktaş Lyceum in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus.

According to union representatives, several fields — motor mechanics, electrical engineering and electronics, catering and hospitality — lack teachers, training kits, and workshops. Due to a reduction in teaching staff, IT classes have been merged; computers are broken, and there is no internet access. A branch for “electric vehicles” has been created, but no training sets for practice are available.

Selma Eylem, chair of KTOEÖS, noted that motor lessons have had no teacher for two weeks, and students cannot practice without workshops. She also highlighted shortages of consumables in bakery and confectionery subjects, the absence of 10th-grade textbooks, and the lack of workshop supervisor positions in several schools.

Adnan Zekai, KTOEÖS education secretary, pointed out that according to regulations, specialized classes should have 16 students, whereas they currently have 20–25. Tahir Gökçebel, union secretary general, announced plans to file complaints with the Attorney General’s Office, the Audit Office, and the Supreme Electoral Council regarding staffing and organizational decisions of the Ministry of Education.