How safe are the public schools attended daily by thousands of children across Cyprus?
Three special reports by the Audit Office paint a troubling picture. From school transport and prefabricated classrooms to fire protection and emergency preparedness, the reports identify serious weaknesses, gaps in oversight and longstanding failures to address known problems.
Taken individually, each report highlights a separate issue. Together, however, they raise broader questions about the level of safety being provided in public schools.
Unsuitable school buses
Problems begin before students even arrive at school.
Following a series of school bus fires and incidents involving vehicles losing wheels while in motion, authorities carried out an emergency technical inspection of the fleet. According to the Audit Office, the findings revealed that these incidents were not isolated cases but evidence of wider shortcomings in vehicle inspections, supervision and compliance.
Among the key findings:
- 53% of school buses failed to undergo the mandatory emergency technical inspection.
- 35% of the buses that were inspected were deemed unfit for service.
- 14% of buses presented at state testing centres lacked a valid MOT certificate within the required three-month period.
- Newer buses were inspected first, despite instructions that older vehicles should be prioritised, potentially understating the true scale of the problem.
- 19% of buses rejected during emergency inspections had previously passed MOT tests, in some cases only days earlier and with little difference in recorded mileage.
- Two school buses that caught fire in September and November 2025 had passed MOT inspections but had not been presented for emergency testing on time.
- Five buses declared unfit by the Road Transport Department in Famagusta continued operating student routes without valid roadworthiness certificates.
Temporary classrooms become permanent
Safety concerns do not end once students reach school.
A second Audit Office report focuses on prefabricated classrooms, which in many cases have long ceased being temporary solutions and have become a permanent feature of school infrastructure.
The report found:
- More than 500 prefabricated classrooms are estimated to be in use in public schools, while the Education Ministry lacks an up-to-date central registry.
- Of a sample of 29 prefabricated classrooms, 15 had remained in place for at least five years.
- One classroom at the Third Ypsonas Kindergarten has been in use since August 2014.
- Inspectors identified numerous safety and functionality concerns, including the absence of covered walkways, difficulties accessing toilets, hazardous gradients in schoolyards, missing railings and handrails, and reduced space for safe movement and activities.
- Prefabricated classrooms are being installed without standardised site-planning studies and without the required planning approvals, despite often serving as long-term extensions to school facilities.
- 32 of 272 public kindergartens were operating above capacity, while 230 of the 240 kindergartens without prefabricated units were operating below full capacity, highlighting significant imbalances in student distribution.
- The Audit Office said the only permanent solution is the construction and expansion of schools, noting that projects worth €27.8 million, despite having completed studies, remained unfunded.
Fire safety concerns
A third report, published this week, examined fire protection, electrical safety, written risk assessments and Civil Defence plans.
The findings reveal what the Audit Office describes as a significant gap between regulations and their implementation.
Among the findings:
- Written Risk Assessments and Civil Defence Plans largely function as administrative requirements rather than genuine prevention tools.
- The Education Ministry receives the documents but does not systematically assess their quality or monitor whether recommended corrective actions are implemented.
- Of 20 schools examined, 13 either failed to submit the required documents or submitted incomplete versions, while only seven had both required plans in place.
- Of Cyprus' 737 public schools, only 496 had ever been inspected by the Fire Service.
- Just 126 schools had received a Fire Safety Certificate at least once.
- Among a sample of 25 schools, none held a valid Fire Safety Certificate, while only 11 possessed a valid electrical installation report.
- Inspections identified inadequate numbers of fire extinguishers, missing panic bars and handrails, deficiencies in emergency lighting, poor emergency exit signage and shortcomings in boiler room safety.
- In many cases, deficiencies remained unresolved despite repeated inspections.
- Conditions were particularly concerning in Technical Schools, where none held a valid Fire Safety Certificate and only one had a valid electrical safety report despite the higher risks associated with workshops and specialised equipment.
- The Education Ministry lacks a centralised picture of which schools possess the required certificates and reports.
The Audit Office further noted that a less stringent regulatory framework applies to public schools than to private schools, prompting the Auditor General to question whether public school pupils are effectively being treated as "second-class students."
