Declaration of Public-aided secondary schools

34.-(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Law or in any other Law contained, the Συνέλευσις, upon application by the governing body of any secondary school to which section 23 or 24 applies, may declare such school to be a Public-aided Secondary School and, thereupon, the provisions of this Law shall apply to such school and to every teacher in any such school, subject to the following modifications, that is to say:-

(a) the teachers in every such school shall be appointed by the Συνέλευσις, after consultation with the governing body concerned, subject to the following conditions:-

(i) no teacher who is not a πολίτης της Δημοκρατίας and a native of the Δημοκρατία shall be appointed to the permanent and pensionable staff:

Provided that a teacher, who is not a native of the Δημοκρατία and who has, by operation of this Law, already become member of the permanent and pensionable staff, shall continue to be such and shall enjoy all the privileges derived therefrom;

(ii) any first appointment under sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph shall be made on probation for a period of two years;

(iii) any teacher who is not a native of the Δημοκρατία, or who, though a native of the Δημοκρατία, is not a πολίτης της Δημοκρατίας, may be appointed on contract, under such terms and conditions as the Director may, subject to the approval of the Συνέλευσις, determine;

(iv) any teacher may be appointed by the Director to act as a temporary teacher according to the exigencies of the service;

(v) every teacher appointed under this paragraph shall, except with the consent of the governing body concerned, belong to the religious community served by the school to which he is appointed;

(vi) every teacher appointed under this paragraph shall be liable to be transferred from any such school to any other Public-aided Secondary School, after consultation with the governing bodies concerned, according to the exigencies of the service:

Provided that every teacher serving in such school and whose name was contained in an application made on or before such date, as may be fixed by the Συνέλευσις by a notice in the Gazette, shall not be transferred from any such school without his consent and that of the Governing Body;

(b) there shall be kept at the office of the Director a special register to be called “the Register of Public-aided Secondary School Teachers” wherein shall be entered in such part thereof as may be prescribed by Regulations made under this paragraph, the name of every teacher appointed in any Public-aided Secondary School and the prescribed particulars in respect thereof:

Provided that the entry in the Register of Public-aided Secondary School Teachers shall not obviate the need for registration in the Register of Secondary School Teachers as in section 16 provided;

(c) every teacher appointed to the permanent and pensionable staff who has served for ten years or upwards, may be granted, on his retirement, a pension and every such teacher, otherwise qualified for a pension, who has not completed the minimum period of service qualifying for a pension, may be granted, on his retirement, a gratuity and, for the purposes of this paragraph, sections 46 to 62 of the Elementary Education Law (both inclusive) shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Part of this Law, subject, however, to the following modifications, that is to say:-

(i) in section 46, for the words “one six-hundredth” there shall be substituted the words “one seven-hundred and twentieth”;

(ii) in sections 51(1)(a), 53(1) and paragraph (a) of the proviso thereto and the last provisos to sections 54 and 55 for the word “fifty-five,” wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted the word “sixty”;

(iii) in paragraph (b) of the proviso to section 53(1), for the word “fifty” there shall be substituted the word “fifty-five”;

(iv) paragraph (c) of the proviso to section 53(1) shall not apply:

Provided that any teacher whose name is contained in the application may, within six months from the date of his appointment, elect that the aforementioned sections of the Elementary Education Law shall apply to him without any such modifications and, thereupon, such sections shall accordingly apply to such teacher mutatis mutandis without any such modifications;

(d) every teacher who is not a native of the Δημοκρατία, or who, though a native of the Δημοκρατία, is not a πολίτης της Δημοκρατίας, and who is appointed on contract to teach in any such school, may, on his retirement, be granted a gratuity in accordance with the provisions set out in the First Schedule to this Law;

(e) salaries, pensions and gratuities under this Part of this Law shall be a charge on public revenue;

(f) upon the appointment of any teacher to any such school any right of such teacher to any gratuity under any scheme operating in the school before its declaration as a Public-aided Secondary School shall lapse and any money in any fund kept for the purpose by the governing body may be utilized for such purposes of the school as the governing body may approve:

Provided that where any such scheme was on a contributory basis all contributions of such teacher up to the date of his appointment shall forthwith be paid back to him;

(g) the annual tuition fee payable by each pupil in any such school shall be fixed by the governing body and shall be collected by such body and utilized for those purposes of the school, the expenditure in respect of which is not a charge on public revenue under the provisions of this section:

Provided that-

(i) no such fee shall exceed fifteen pounds unless the Συνέλευσις, upon application by the governing body of any such school, by Order published in the Gazette, increases such fee in respect of such school by an amount not exceeding fifty per centum;

(ii) no such fees shall be utilized by the governing body of any such school for the establishment or maintenance of a school boarding house;

(h) there shall be allowed out of the total number of pupils, twenty per centum free places in such manner as may be prescribed;

(i) the curriculum as set out in the application shall not be changed save with the prior permission in writing of the Director:

Provided that the Director’ s permission shall not be withheld for any change which may be rendered necessary by reason of any corresponding change in the entrance requirements of the universities or other educational institutions of analogous status in the United Kingdom, Greece or Turkey or in any other country as may be prescribed;

(j) no teacher shall engage either directly or indirectly in any business, or shall receive any remuneration, other than his salary, in connection with any service rendered, or work done, by him save with the prior permission in writing by the Director;

(k) it shall be the duty of the governing body of any such school, in so far as its resources permit, to provide and maintain to the satisfaction of the Director proper and sufficient school buildings, premises, playgrounds, yards or gardens in good order and to provide and maintain the necessary class-rooms, subject-rooms, work-shops, laboratories, libraries and their furniture and equipment;

(l) the accounts of the governing body of every such school shall be made up to the 15th day of July in every year and shall be submitted together with all vouchers, records and documents relating thereto for audit by such person as may be appointed by the Director, the remuneration of every such person being a charge on public revenue;

(m) the Συνέλευσις may, from time to time, make Regulations to be published in the Gazette for all or any of the following matters, in connection with such schools, that is to say:-

(i) the form of application to be made by the governing body of a secondary school under the provisions of this section;

(ii) the educational qualifications required for registration as a teacher in any Public-aided Secondary School and the period during which a teacher may be required to serve on probation;

(iii) the scale of salaries to be paid to every such teacher;

(iv) the maximum number of pupils to be admitted in such school, and the qualifications for admission of such pupils;

(v) the procedure to be followed for the recruitment of new teachers and for filling vacancies in the teaching staff after the declaration of a secondary school as a Public-aided Secondary School;

(vi) enabling governing bodies to make standing orders in respect of such matters as may be prescribed;

(vii) enabling governing bodies to appeal to the Συνέλευσις from any decision of the Director;

(viii) prescribing anything which under the provisions of this section is required or permitted to be prescribed;

(ix) generally, for the better carrying out of the purposes of this Part of this Law:

Provided that, until varied or revoked by any such regulations, the Regulations contained in the Second Schedule to this Law shall have effect;

(n) sections 30, 31, 33 and 34 of the Elementary Education Law shall apply mutatis mutandis to every teacher appointed under this section;

(o) upon the declaration of a school as a Public-aided School, any grant-in-aid payable to such school shall forthwith cease;

(p) no teacher appointed under this section shall be deemed to be a public officer in the service of the Δημοκρατία.

(2) In the application of sections 46 to 62 of the Elementary Education Law (both inclusive) to paragraph (c) of subsection (1):-

“salary” with respect to any teacher shall include a portion of the cost-of-living allowance paid to such teacher for the time being amounting to twelve and one-half per centum of the salary of such teacher but shall otherwise be exclusive of allowances:

Provided that where a teacher has, during the course of his service, held for an aggregate period of not less than five years posts in respect of which a duty allowance is payable, the Συνέλευσις may direct that, for the purpose of computing pension or gratuity, the salary shall be enhanced by a sum equal to the average of the allowances payable in respect of the posts held during the last five years of the aggregate period;

“service” means full time service in a secondary school in the Δημοκρατία or a school to which the Elementary Education Law applies.

(3) For the purposes of this section, “native of the Δημοκρατία” means a person who was born, or whose father was born, in the Δημοκρατία and who is not recognized by any foreign State as having acquired by his own voluntary act the nationality of such State on or after the 5th day of November, 1914.