Wednesday September 11 marks the start of the new school year for Greek public schools, and most private schools. In honor of the occasion, the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not miss the opportunity to post a video on Tiktok to welcome students and inform the public of 10 changes in-store for 2024-2025.
@kyriakosmitsotakis_♬ original sound – Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Teaching Staff and Resources at Greek Public Schools
The Greek government is consistently under pressure from the public to address chronic shortages in teaching staff, particulary on Greek islands, to modernize academic resources, and to combat bullying at schools, among other issues.
And the Ministry of Education is also well known for annually changing rules around allowed absences, designed to discourage students from playing ‘hookie’, particularly highschool students who stop attending classes in their last year to flock to private lessons in preparation for the infamous university entrance exams known as ‘Panellinies’.
In his video, in the Greek language, the Prime Minister told students and parents that 10,000 permanent teachers have been added to the Greek public school system and 20,000 substitute teachers, bringing the number of teaching staff in the public system to historical highs.
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Meanwhile, even small Greek islands as far as Gavros, located south of Greece, will have teachers for the core curriculum, says the PM, and that in situ instruction will be enhanced by online classes. It is not clear from his statements how students will be able to attend online classes and if they will be given the neccessary digital resources.
However, the PM added that the government is making strides to generally upgrade in-school resources through the addition of 40,000 smartboards. They will be installed by the end of 2024, in all classrooms from 5th grade until the final grade of highschool, according to Mitsotakis. And, he highlighted that 8 out of 10 already have smartboards.
To help parents keep track of students’ grades and absences, a digital portal called eParents has been launched. Note that, yet again, the Greek government has changed policies around absences including the number of ‘allowed and excusable’ absences.
‘Panellinies’, Career Counseling, Digital Skills
Returning to the contentious issue of Panellinies and the high cost of private tutoring that a majority of Greek families incur to send their children to test-prep centers called ‘frontistiria’, Mitsotakis said the government has a plan.
The online test-prep program will start next week and is designed to support the estimated 120,000 highschool students who will sit for entrance exams this year.
Also, in an effort to help students decide what they would like to do in the future, the government will offer career counseling services for first year highschool students (equivalent to 10th grade in the US system).
And finally, students in the last year of junior high (9th grade in the US system) will receive a certificate documenting their attainment of a certain level of digital skills.
Stricter Rules, Civic Responsibility in Focus
In a country that is often characterized as ‘permissive’ when it comes to punishing youth for damaging public property, as can be inferred by the high levels of graffiti covering many public schools (which rarely resembles the artwork seen at a school in the downtown Athens area of Nikaia), the Prime Minister warned students that if they are seen causing damage to their school, their parents will be notified and they will have to pay for the damages incurred.
The Greek government has also previously announced that it will strictly forbid the use of mobile phones in schools this year.
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In hopes of kindling a greater spirit of civic responsibility, the Prime Minster also elaborated upon a host of ‘actions’ called ‘active citizens’ that will focus on bullying at school, environmental protection, athletics and mental health.
Connected to the globalized problem of bullying among the youth at schools, the Greek government previously announced that it has launched a panic button for minors.
2nd Elementary school of Glyfada, September 11, 2024.
