There is an alarming increase in violence and delinquency in schools all across Cyprus considering that a total of 250 such cases have been recorded from 2022 to date.
Deputy Chief of Police, Ioannis Georgiou, also told the House Education Committee on Wednesday that most such cases are recorded in secondary schools – especially in the district of Nicosia.
At the same time, he said the police force has no objection to the installation of security surveillance cameras but additional measures are also a must.
The MPs heard that all relevant stakeholders in society need to develop appropriate actions immediately so that they can effectively prevent and address issues of violence through coordinated and systematic actions.
Actions should be the result of integrated planning and not isolated or spontaneous ones, he also said.
Committee members also heard that cameras were installed in 17 schools in Limassol in 2010, 2011 and 2012 when a rising delinquency was recorded.
However, vandals destroyed them all and this indicates that installing cameras alone cannot yield positive results. What will work, however, is proper guarding combined with more frequent policing of schools.
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