CCTV to be installed at 50 more schools

Cameras will be installed at 50 more schools across the island during the next year, the education minister told MPs on Tuesday.

Athena Michaelidou was responding to a query as to how many closed-circuit surveillance systems are currently installed at schools, and how many more are being planned for 2026.

Since late 2024, cameras have been installed and are operating in some 100 schools in all districts.

The move followed a spate of incidents of vandalism and burglaries, which are ongoing.

Currently, cameras are installed on 40 school premises in Nicosia district, 28 in Limassol, 17 in Larnaca, eight in Famagusta and seven in Paphos.

For the next year, the ministry plans to install cameras at 50 additional schools deemed ‘high-risk’.

The requests for cameras are made by individual schools, and then assessed by the ministry.

According to the minister, the presence of the surveillance systems has in a number of instances deterred malicious destruction to property, and in other cases assisted police in investigations.

Use of the cameras is according to guidelines issued by the Personal Data Protection Commissioner.

The commissioner has advised that the cameras are to operate only during off-hours – from the end of one school day to the start of the next.

This is to minimise intrusiveness with the privacy of any person on school grounds – students, parents and teachers.

Each school has the discretion to activate the cameras according to its own schedule.

In October, parents, students and teachers at a primary school in Limassol held a protest over the burglary and vandalism which took place in one of the classrooms.

Protesters demanded action over the theft of 52 electronic devices – computers and tablets – worth €25,000.

In March, police arrested two people – aged 23 and 16 – for breaking into a primary school and causing damage of about €500 to classrooms and equipment in Limassol.