State school

A government bill aiming to overhaul public education, with more school hours for foreign languages and information technology and English lessons in kindergarten, was unveiled on Wednesday by Education Minister Niki Kerameus.

The government approved the allocation of BGN 2 429 511 for physical education and sports for municipal kindergartens and schools and for public schools funded by the Ministry of Education and Science.

4-year-olds must go to pre-school. This envisages the adoption by the Council of Ministers of a plan to implement the strategy for reducing the share of early school leavers. Thus, compulsory pre-school education becomes three, instead of two years, as it is so far.
 

An Education Ministry initiative to provide extra tuition to secondary students at Greek public schools so that they do not have to rely on private institutions is expected to start on Wednesday.

This academic year, the ministry will provide 19 additional tuition centers, up from last year's 421.

The courses will be available until May 31, when classes end.

Change is a must in Turkey's education system, but recent sharp shifts could do more harm than good, Education Reform Initiative (ERI) director Batuhan Aydagül has told the Hürriyet Daily News in an exclusive interview. 

A debate in Croatia on the role of the powerful Catholic Church has reopened as Catholic priests hold prayers for the new school year in a number of public schools.

However, the country's Science and Education Ministry says any decisions to invite clergy to bless the new school year in schools lie in the hands of school directors, the news site Index reported on Monday.

Thirteen high school teachers have traveled around villages in the southeastern province of Batman to convince the parents of a total of 45 girls to send their offspring to school. 

In an effort to avoid the 23% VAT hike for private schools, a new innovative idea being explored by the government is the creation of ‘independent schools’ that would be governed by an elected board of governors and be privy to the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools.

Education Minister Nikos Filis refered to the VAT hike for private education and the current teacher shortages in public schools in an interview with private MEGA TV on Saturday morning. His statement concerning the fact that a VAT hike in private education is nothing more than “peanuts” had the press reeling in recent days.

The Israeli school year has begun, but thousands of children from the Arab minority who attend Christian schools are still on summer vacation because of a strike to protest cuts in government funding that critics say amount to discrimination.