For the changes which will be implemented this year in schools spoke to APE-MPE n Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Zetta Makri, stressing that these are “changes that will bring to the school classroom and the learning process the renewal it deserves and the upgrade required by global educational and pedagogical trends, practices and challenges”.

The deputy minister, a few days before ringing the first bell of the new school year, noted that the changes “cover, globally, the educational needs and contribute, as a single whole, to the emergence of the Greek public school as a core of progress, creativity and extroversion”.

Mrs. Makri spoke of “investment”, which ensures benefits “with a real social sign”: the digital tutoring center, the autonomous classes in Gavdos and Arkios, the consolidation of the use of digital media and technology with 36,264 interactive tables, the harmonization of the curricula with the 17 goals of sustainable development of the UN through the actions of the Active Citizen, the new operating regulations of the schools, which provide for the tightening of pedagogical and disciplinary measures and the prohibition of the visible possession and use of mobile phones throughout of the educational process, the implementation of School Vocational Orientation and the organized cultivation of a love of reading, including through the multiple book, which will be available in digital form from April 2025 and in print form from September 2026.

In addition, the above “sections”, as he characterizes them, already include the E-PARENTS applicationthrough which parents and guardians are informed about students’ scores as well as announcements and notifications from the school unit, the platform STOP-BULLYING.GOV.GR, against intra-school violence and bullying which premiered at the end of the previous school year, as well as the reformation of the Informatics course with the design of a new certificate. Also, the new IT books for all three high school grades will be available from this year in digital format and in print from 2025-2026.

Furthermore, Mrs. Makri referred to the hiring of 10,000 permanent teachers, speaking of an “impressive number”, which together with the 27,500 appointments of the last five years brings the number of permanent placements to 37,500.

The deputy minister spoke of an “important step in the reversal of the percentages of permanent and substitute teachers”, which “prepares the equally dynamic continuity in appointments until the goal is reached, where substitutes will cover only emergency needs”.

However, he admitted that the need for deputies remains. “This is the reality we want to change”, pointed out Mrs. Makri.

Finally, answering a question about the new directions of the IEP aimed at promoting the creative thinking of students, the deputy minister noted that common targeting of the initiatives — such as the multiple book, the strengthening of unity “Create and Innovate” in the Skills Workshops and the development of the Topic Bank in the logic of questions and the philosophy of inquiry PISA— is the reduction of memorization and the development of critical thinking.