NICOSIA — The Parent-Teacher Association of a Cyprus elementary school has come under fierce criticism for putting up a domestic helper as a prize in a children’s holiday lottery draw.

Cyprus PTA Confederation chief Maria Savva told state-run radio that a man who runs a placement agency offered to waive the fees and costs of finding a housemaid as one of the prizes in the traditional children’s draw at the Aradippou school. It’s unclear if anyone claimed the prize.

Thousands of domestic helpers are employed in Cyprus, mostly foreign nationals who are recruited in countries where labor is cheaper.

Savva said she has asked the school’s PTA for a formal report into the matter.

Cyprus Education Ministry official Elpidoforos Neoclous condemned the prize on private Sigma TV station as “unacceptable.”