Types of institutions

General upper Secondary Education is provided by the Lyceums (Lykeia) and Technical schools. Pupils who graduate from a gymnasium may enroll in a lyceum or technical school.

Upper secondary education (Lyceum) provides a curriculum comprising common core subjects, orientation subjects, and elective subjects.
In Grade A of the Lyceum, students follow the common core curriculum and select one of four Groups of Orientation Subjects (GOS), which introduce broader fields of study and support their transition to specialized studies in the following grades.
In Grades B and C, students follow one of six available study streams (specializations). Within these streams, specialization subjects are taught for sixteen (16) weekly periods in Grade B and sixteen (16) weekly periods in Grade C.
Elective subjects are offered exclusively in Grades B and C. These are taught for four (4) weekly periods in Grade B and in Grade C.
For all subjects, syllabuses are centrally developed. These define the learning objectives, the subject content, and the recommended teaching approaches and instructional materials.

Geographical accessibility

Lyceums operate in urban, suburban and large rural communities. Because of the small size of Cyprus, no schools are considered as ‘remote’, therefore, there is no need for special provisions such as flexible hours. However, students from rural areas who are transported from their village to school are entitled to a subsidy.

Admission requirements and choice of school

The only prerequisite to enter a lyceum is the school-leaving certificate from a gymnasium and pupils are required to attend the nearest school to their home where exceptions can be made by the Ministry of Education and Culture, usually for reasons of special needs.

Age levels and grouping of pupils

Lyceums are attended by 15- to 18-year old students. Pupils are grouped together with other children of the same age (except a pupil has repeated a year) disregarding their level of aptitude and knowledge.

There are three grades in lyceums and a maximum class size of twenty-five pupils, which is reduced to twenty for laboratory-based and practical sessions. Since teachers are specialists in their own field of study and teaching is structured by discipline, a number of teachers are assigned to teach in each class. There are no regulations concerning the number of years a teacher may teach the same pupils, but ministry recommendations are that this should not be for more than two academic years.

Organization of the school year

As in the case of all public schools, the school calendar and weekly and daily timetables for the lyceums are determined by the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth and approved by the Council of Ministers.

The school year runs from 1 September to 31 August. Teachers’ duties begin on 1 September and end on 30 June. Lessons start on the fifth working day of September and end during the second ten-day period of May, with the exact dates determined each year by the Minister of Education.

According to Amending Regulations (Κ.Δ.Π. 60/2017) applied from 2017/18, the school year is divided into two four-month terms, as follows:

The First term begins the fifth working day of September and ends in the middle of January. The second term begins from the middle of January and ends the second ten days of May.

Two days of the school year, one on each term, are called "Teachers" Days, are used by schools for in-service training and planning purposes. Pupils do not attend school on these two days. 

During the teaching year schools are closed for two weeks at Christmas, for two weeks at Easter, with an additional eleven days when as schools are closed for public, national or religious holidays. As this pattern for the organization of the school year is fixed, the annual number of days on which lyceums operate is always the same - approximately 146 working days.

There are a number of days when teachers are working but not teaching, which are used for preparation purposes and for examinations. These are either at the beginning of the academic year or during and after the final examination period (June).

Organization of the school day and week

At the Lyceum level, students attend schools five days a week, from Monday to Friday. The school day starts at 07.30 and finishes at 13.35. Each day is organized in teaching periods with a total of thirty-seven periods in a week. There are seven 45-minute periods with three breaks totaling fifty minutes, on three of the days (any days) in the week and eight 40-minute periods with three breaks totaling forty minutes, on the remaining two days of the week.