Bill squeezing private schools to be debated

A bill introducing drastic reforms to all levels of education is to go to public consultation next week despite objections to its content by private schools and the parents of children attending cramming and language classes at those schools.

The draft law, which has drawn criticism from opposition parties, bans private schools from having in-house extra tuition on foreign languages and other subjects. Education Minister Aristides Baltas has argued that the private education sector must be overhauled and has expressed understanding for those with objections. But no major tweaks have been made to the proposed legislation. Babis Kyrailidis, a representative of the national federation representing Greek private schools, complained that stopping the in-house cramming schools from operating would oblige private schools to sack staff. Also, parents would take their children to independent cramming schools, dealing a further blow to the federation?s members.

At the tertiary level, the education bill aims to abolish the independent councils responsible for overseeing universities and will give students a bigger role in electing rectors at the institutions.

On the primary and secondary level, the bill foresees the end of evaluation of teachers and schools introduced by previous legislation.