Teacher removed pending sexual harassment trial

Education Minister Costas Kadis has removed a 49-year-old high-school teacher who is accused of sexual harassment. The Larnaca teacher allegedly harassed a 13-year-old girl and three others.

Although a criminal prosecution has been pending for more than six months, the man has been teaching classes in two different secondary schools in Larnaca since the beginning of the school year.

Police arrested the 49-year-old last March, following a complaint by a pupil who claimed that he had sexually harassed her from the beginning of the school year in September 2014 until she filed her complaint.

When this was disclosed, three other girl students complained as well. The teacher suspended pending the conclusion of a criminal investigation at the time.

The suspension, lasting six months, expired in late August, so the education service commission proceeded to place him in school for the new academic year, while waiting for a new letter from the ministry of education to renew the suspension.

Kadis intervened immediately when complaints were raised on Monday and wrote a letter to the commission requesting the suspect be removed until the trial.

In March, the education ministry came under heavy fire after it emerged the same teacher had been reported for sexual abuse in the past but was allowed back into the schoolroom in another town.