Many parents are breathing a sigh of relief that the endless summer holidays are over and their little horrors will be returning to school. Not so fast: little Kostas or Maria might not be getting a teacher until December. One by one, the problems created by the previous government’s inexperience and inability to cope while struggling with the Grexit issues are rising to the surface.
With schools due to open for the new year, it seems there are not enough teachers to go around, at either primary or secondary level. ‘Not enough’- to the tune of 25.000 vacant positions. There is only money to cover 13.000 appointments, while in other public sectors rumor has it that people have been hired, even though there is no need for them. It seems that no Greek government can escape this method of securing future votes.
Around 90.000 teachers are queuing to put in their applications in the hopes of a job, most of them having been obliged to repeat the process a second time after their first applications were canceled because of some bureaucratic ‘mistake’.
Now Greek kids, already stressed from living in families who are coping with huge financial problems, will pay for this mismanagement. Some positions will not be filled until December, since there was a huge delay in taking the necessary bureaucratic steps. Schools on the islands and in rural areas will suffer most.
It must also be noted that, during the previous school year, a large percentage of children in the Athens area went to school each morning on an empty stomach, because of their parents’ dire financial situation. Teachers who could ill afford it themselves were purchasing cookies and fruit to feed their class. In some areas, breakfast was donated by private-sector companies or by the church.
All this is bound to have a huge impact on Greek society, which is family-oriented still. A country that neglects its future generations is a country in trouble.
Letters from Athens 