PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias was yesterday accused of discrimination when it emerged that one of his reasons for vetoing a law extending teachers’ retirement age was “the mental and physical weariness that occurs in teachers over 60 years old”.

The President, who himself is 64 years old, and is engaged in negotiations to secure the political future of the entire country,  won himself no favours – in the teaching as well as among older members of the public – with his comments, which were read out during an extraordinary House Education Committee session yesterday.

Whatever Christofias’ views, the majority of parties are insisting on raising higher education teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 63 years old, despite strong reactions from younger teachers who have not yet been appointed in the public sector.

DISY, DIKO and EDEK have already said they will reject the president’s referral of the bill back to parliament.

The final vote will be held today, in an extraordinary plenary session. If MPs stick to their guns, the matter will be sent to the Supreme Court to decide, as is the standard procedure.

In his justification, Christofias invoked constitutional reasons for the referral, based on increases in state expenditure through salaries, pensions and one-off payments.

He then added that “the mental and physical weariness that occurs in teachers over 60 years old” would tarnish the quality of education offered.

The comments provoked a heated reaction by MPs: standing chairman, DISY’s George Tassou, said a teachers’ work should never be undermined, while DIKO’s Athena Kyriakidou said the President had “directly insulted” teachers.

The Green Party’s George Perdikis said the justification offered “reeks of ageism”, while the head of secondary teachers’ union OELMEK, Eleni Semelidou, said the president’s views were not based on scientifically proven facts.

Ruling party AKEL MP Stavros Evagorou suggested the law was blatantly unconstitutional and this would be proven in the Supreme Court, if the law is rejected – a high possibility.

Education Minister Andreas Demetriou said that during an educational reform, the introduction of more young teachers was a necessity.

Maybe in 10 or 15 years when the reform is complete, he added, the matter could be reconsidered.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis has committed to present parliament with a study into the increase in state expenditure.