Sending your children to the local school in Greece is a
good idea, especially if your children are fairly young
because young children pick up languages very easily an
extra advantage being that they can help you with your
struggle to learn the language! There are regional
differences in the paperwork which is required to enroll
your child at the local school. However, you will need
birth certificates of both parents and the child/ren.
You may also be asked to provide evidence that your
child has had all the required vaccinations to date.
Older children need to prove that they have attended
school before and a letter from a former Head will
suffice. Note, that it may be a good idea to get all the
necessary documentation officially translated into Greek
before you begin the process.
As in all European countries, the Greek educational
system is governed by laws and administrative Acts. The
Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs,
which implements the national policy for education, has
the overall responsibility. Education in Greece is
compulsory for all children 6-15 years old. Formal
education is characterized by the fixed length of study,
the possibility of repetition, and the award of a formal
school-leaving certificate, which is the official
recognition. A diploma (school-leaving certificate,
degree, etc.) is compulsory for students at each
educational level in order to continue to the next.
Geographical Accessibility
The policy of the Ministry of National Education and
Religious Affairs is to support every school regardless
of its location. For this reason, special measures are
taken so that education may reach the most distant parts
of the country. In order to serve pupils, there is a
dispersion of all the types of nipiagogeia
(kindergartens) and demotika scholeia (primary schools)
in all the regions of the country and compensatory
measures are taken in order to eliminate or limit
educational inequalities between the centre and the
periphery. The type of schools (from 1 to 12 teachers)
depends on the number of pupils.
Access to schools of pupils living in inaccessible or
sparsely populated regions that do not have a
corresponding school unit, directly accessible, is
achieved using long distance buses or other means of
transport, suitable for each case. This cost is charged
to the state totally, with no other charge for the
pupils.
Structure
The Greek educational system consists of three
successive levels: Primary (Dimotiko), Secondary (Gymnasio)
and Tertiary education level. . However, school life can
begin from the age of 2.5 years (pre-school education)
in both public and private institutions called
Vrefonipiakoi Paidikoi Stathmi (crèches). Thus, Primary
education level can be divided into pre-school
education, non-compulsory Kindergarten (Nipiagogeia) ,
and compulsory Primary education. For pre-schoolers,
private nurseries do exist but can be expensive.
Kindergarten begins at 4 years old and is free. You just
need to buy things like paper, pencils and glue for them
to take with them. The first stage Primary (Demotic
School ) of compulsory education takes children from 5/6
to 12 years of age. The Secondary education level is
also divided into two cycles. The Lower Level Secondary
which takes place at Gymnasiums is compulsory until the
age of 15 when children may leave school. The next
level, Upper Secondary Education is not compulsory and
can be followed at the Unified Lyceums and Technical
Vocational Educational Institutes. Finally, we get to
the Tertiary level which is divided into university
education offered by the universities and non-university
education available from Higher Technological
Educational Institutes and Higher Education
Institutions. There also exists, in many big cities in
Greece, English schools where English speaking children
can go after school for extra reading and writing in
English.
In 1997 an effort was made by UNESCO to internationally
classify educational systems based on seven levels of
education which were described in the
International Standard Classification of Education -
ISCED 1997. These levels of education are:
Isced level 0 - Pre-school education
Isced level 1 - Primary education
Isced level 2 - Lower secondary education
Isced level 3 - Higher secondary education
Isced level 4 - Post-secondary, non-university education
Isced level 5 - University education
Isced level 6 - Postgraduate studies
