The minister, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, gave an answer to the teachers who protested earlier today outside the Ministry of Education.

In an interview he gave earlier on Alpha TV, he said that the ministry is proceeding with a rationalization of the number of departments, which he described as “absolutely necessary”, while noting that it concerns about 2% of all departments in the territory.

“We are proceeding to rationalize departments to achieve better educational results“, emphasized the minister, pointing out that the Greek average of students per teacher is lower than the European one (8.2 students per teacher in Greece).

“We look at the issue educationally, to achieve better educational results“, he repeated.

Mr. Pierrakakis reminded that the 10,000 appointments of permanent teachers are already in place and expressed the optimism that from now on the hiring of substitutes will be less and less.

Regarding the use of cell phones at school, the Minister of Education emphasized: “The technology that enters schools with interactive whiteboards and digital tutorials is one thing, and the use of cell phones is another.”

He noted that this is not about tightening, but about setting a “specific framework of consequences”.

“Every action should be linked to its consequence“, he said and added: “We give tools to teachers to make their work easier».

Finally, Mr. Pierrakakis announced new changes regarding the social orientation courses from the next school year.