School’s back from summer

The excitement accompanying the start of new school which this year starts on Wednesday is somewhat tempered by the permanent tug-of-war between the leadership of the Ministry of Education on the one hand, and the teachers and their trade union representatives on the other over lower wages and departmental mergers.

According to an OECD report "Education at a Glance 2024," which was made public on Tuesday, Greece has many teachers in relation to its student population, but they are underpaid. It has the best teacher-per-pupil ratios among OECD countries, yet teacher pay is among the lowest in the OECD.

Based on data from 2022, in the country's kindergartens the ratio of students per teacher is 8.8 to 1, in elementary schools it is 7.9 to 1, and in high schools 8.3 to 1. In senior high schools it increases to 10 to 1.

In the OECD ranking very close to the Greek...