Akel submits bill to abolish social support agency

Akel submitted a bill to parliament on Tuesday calling for the abolition of the social support agency within three months and the transfer of its responsibilities and resources to the state scholarships foundation.

Presenting the proposal, Akel general secretary Stefanos Stefanou said the bill, co-signed by Disy MP Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis and Independent MP Alexandra Attalides, provides for the scholarships foundation to assume all assets, rights and liabilities thereafter.

“We are calling for abolition and not improvement because it has been proven in practice that the agency de facto creates conditions of institutional entanglement,” he said.

Stefanou argued that the agency’s operation within the presidential palace and its reliance on sponsorships from businessmen and companies involved in public works fosters a “special relationship” that fuels public suspicion, referring to concerns raised by the audit service in a special report published last November.

He said the government bypassed the report and opposed efforts to ensure transparency over the agency’s sponsors.

“We do not nullify the contribution of the agency, but in an era when entanglement and corruption thrive, society’s concerns must be addressed in practice,” he said.

He added that the agency’s philosophy reduces student support to charity rather than a coherent state policy governed by clear social criteria, transparency and meritocracy.

“Student welfare should be an institutional obligation of the state, not charity exchanged for votes and other benefits,” he said.

Addressing wider student welfare policy, Stefanou said state funding had fallen from €70 million in 2013 to €48 million today, with €19.2 million cut under the Anastasiades administration and a further €2.8 million under the current government.

He lamented the fact that thousands of students are excluded each year because income and asset criteria have remained unchanged for more than a decade despite inflation and rising living costs.

“Every year two to four thousand applications are rejected because they fall outside outdated criteria,” he said.

Akel called for a substantial increase in the student welfare budget, a revision of eligibility criteria based on updated economic data, higher allowances reflecting housing and living costs and full utilisation of available funds through student grants.