The Ministry of Education has launched an investigation after students at a secondary school were photographed giving Nazi salutes, allegedly with a teacher’s encouragement, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The incident was reported by the Famagusta District committee of the left-wing AKEL party, which shared a photograph showing the students performing the salutes.
According to AKEL Famagusta, a teacher at the school encouraged students to continue posing with Nazi salutes despite objections from another colleague.
“It is extremely problematic that a teacher at the school encouraged students to continue photographing while giving Nazi salutes, despite her colleague’s objection to the incident,” the party said in a statement.
The opposition party described the incident as “worrying” and emphasised that reproducing Nazi symbols, “even as a joke, constitutes a dangerous deviation that insults collective memory and undermines the democratic values of education.”
“Nazism has no place in our schools or in our society,” the statement added.
AKEL Famagusta called on the Minister of Education to “immediately proceed with all necessary measures, both to investigate the incident and to substantially shield public schools against extreme, fascist ideas.”
The committee concluded that “democracy cannot leave room for tolerance toward fascism.”
When contacted by Phileleftheros, the Ministry of Education confirmed that an investigation into the incident has already been initiated by the Directorate of Secondary Education.
