Auditor General Andreas Papaconstantinou has called for air conditioners in schools that have not passed final inspection and electrical certification to be disconnected immediately, until the required process has been completed. His call follows an audit that found makeshift wiring, units run in rotation to avoid overloads and a switchboard with its safety lock removed.
Auditors visited five schools that the Education Ministry had listed as completed, and found essential work still outstanding at four of them, according to the Audit Office report. Some air conditioners had been installed for almost two years without being connected, and their warranties were running out. The makeshift electrical connections were in plain view.
The switchboard’s door lock had been removed, so it could be opened without first cutting the power, the report says. This was possibly done because a tripped switch had to be reset so often. Auditors were also told of a circuit breaker that tripped and was reset seven times in a single day.
The report says the problems stem from the planned stages of the project being bypassed, with the ministry’s knowledge. It says air conditioners were switched on before the electrical installation had been checked and certified, and before final inspection and approval. According to the report, this risks serious accidents and puts the health and safety of children and teachers in danger.
The Auditor General said the findings relate only to the schools visited and cannot be considered representative of all schools. However, he said their nature and seriousness made immediate action necessary.
The Education Ministry said the project was well under way. It said air conditioners were fully operating in almost 90 per cent of upper secondary schools (lyceums) and almost 75 per cent of lower secondary schools.
Management of the project
According to the report, the ministry was absent for most of the project, having chosen to leave the school boards to manage on their own a project for which they lacked the necessary expertise. It appointed a central coordinator only in the third phase. Fragmentation, inadequate market research and restrictive entry criteria limited competition, the report says, affecting the timetable and possibly prices. It also cites a lack of central planning, delays, and incomplete and inaccurate information.
The Auditor General said the information the ministry gave the Audit Office during the audit did not give a clear picture of the number of schools involved or the timetable. A detailed list of all schools was provided only after the audit had ended, and it contained serious errors, he said. The ministry has not published the list, he added. Publishing it would let pupils, parents and teachers know the actual position at each school, and would make any inaccuracies easy to spot.
A difficult project will inevitably run into problems, Papaconstantinou said, but it needs proper planning, real coordination and transparency. Where the safety of children and teachers is concerned, “there is no room for cutting corners”, he said, calling on the ministry to take corrective action immediately. Whatever pressure the ministry may be under to deliver the project quickly, in no circumstances is it justified to run air conditioners in schools, with the ministry’s knowledge, without an electrical installation certificate and final inspection, he said.
Scope, progress and cost
The installation was announced in 2023 with a completion target of 2026, later revised to 2028. The plan initially covered 209 schools but was later expanded to 758.
By July 2026, when the audit ended, work was complete in 81 of 219 cases, or 37 per cent. Although the project as originally defined covers 209 schools, the report counts 219 cases. Electrical work was pending in 79 cases, air conditioners were being installed in 52, six were awaiting inspection by the EAC, and work had not started at one school.
Progress varied widely between the school boards. Larnaca had completed work at 19 of its 22 schools (86 per cent), followed by Paralimni-Deryneia with 12 of 28 (43 per cent), Limassol with 23 of 57 (40 per cent), Paphos with nine of 23 (39 per cent) and Nicosia with 18 of 89 (20 per cent). The report notes that the percentages alone do not reflect each board’s overall effort, because each was allocated a different number of schools across the three phases.
Based on figures sent to the Audit Office, the project had cost 9,819,430 euros plus VAT by July 2026. The plan covers 5,165 air conditioners. Of these, 1,278 were installed in Phase A. In Phases B and C, 2,123 and 1,764 units respectively have been installed or are being installed.
The Audit Office received complaints that the tender for supplying the air conditioners had been tailored to a particular bidder. The Education Ministry assured it that no evidence had emerged against any ministry official. One company sold 88 per cent of the air conditioners and a second sold the remaining 12 per cent.
The report also raises the question of whether air conditioning is needed in every school, or whether there were alternatives. It points to a 2021 study which found that other measures to improve how school buildings handle heat and energy, designed with future climate conditions in mind, could significantly reduce overheating.
Ministry response
The Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth said it welcomed any audit that could help improve procedures. It said the problems that had arisen were known to it and were being systematically monitored and dealt with. It had already given instructions to the school boards, which are responsible for carrying out the project.
A large part of the report concerns only the project’s original 2023 to 2024 planning and its three installation phases, the ministry said. That plan changed in 2024, when the project was extended to all public schools countrywide except those in mountain areas. As a result, references based on the original three phases do not reflect the project’s current scale and progress, it said. It added that a project of this size cannot be judged only on data from a limited number of schools while work is under way and the figures change constantly.
The ministry said many schools needed electrical upgrades, network reinforcement and other technical work for the systems to run safely and reliably. The project follows public procurement procedures and technical specifications set by the ministry’s Technical Services, with the safety of pupils, teachers and school staff the absolute priority, it said. It said there would be no compromise on technical requirements or safety to speed things up or create an impression.
Overall coordination lies with the ministry’s Director General, under the supervision of the Minister, the ministry said. Coordinators have been appointed for technical challenges, and there are regular meetings with the five metropolitan school boards. The original decentralised tendering through the school boards evolved with the introduction of a Dynamic Purchasing System, developed with the Treasury and the ministry’s Technical Services. The boards have used this system since then under the Treasury’s guidance. The ministry said it followed the Treasury’s recommendations on all financial matters. It said issues concerning the installation guide and the Dynamic Purchasing System were answered in detail in its letters to the Auditor General dated June 10 and June 23, 2026.
The ministry said it regularly updates its data through the school boards and the schools themselves, and that the Audit Office report would be used to evaluate and improve the project.
