The first professional high school, which will operate within the Larissa Plain, is established by a joint decision of the Minister of Education, Religions and Sports, Sofias Zacharakiof the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Athanasiou Petralia and the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection, Ioannis Lambropoulos.

This is the 8th Professional High School of Larissa that will operate organized in a prison for adults in Greece, thereby meeting the needs of the prison population.

Initiative is part of the policy for equal access to educationeven under conditions of incarceration, with the aim of strengthening prisoners and facilitating their social and professional reintegration.

As the Ministry of Education points out, the new school unit creates conditions for continuing education after High schoolsomething that was not possible to date. Graduates of the 2nd School of Second Opportunity of Larissa, which has been operating in the correctional store since 2004, have remained without an organized outlet for secondary education. The possibilities were limited to fragmentary or distance solutions, without teachers, without class, without infrastructure. The result was the inability of the prisoners to gain recognized qualifications and to gain hope for a change of course.

With the founding of the 8th EPAL, the prison shop acquires a complete educational chainextending from primary and secondary general education to vocational training. The school will operate within the detention facility, with a regular curriculum and officially recognized titles. Prisoners gain access to vocational training, organized learning and a context that enhances self -esteem and life prospects after release, the ministry stresses.

The 8th EPAL of Larissa is the result of a long effort. Since 2015, the then head of the 2nd School of Second Opportunity of Larissa, Georgetoday, Director of Educational Units of the Prison Store, he worked systematically to form the conditions that will allow the establishment of an organized high school within the prison. Law 4763/2020 paved the way for the establishment of such structures, while the local and regional support secured along the way proved to be critical, it is noted.

The Ministry of Education, Religions and Sports stresses that it treats education in prisons not as auxiliary policy, but as an organic part of an educational system that respects the human rights and invests in social cohesion. Any prisoner who completes a curriculum, every person who acquires knowledge and skills within the detention area, enhances the chances of reintegration, moves away from the vicious cycle of relapse and is empowered as a citizen.

The Minister of Education, Religions and Sports, Sofia Zacharaki stated: “With the joint ministerial decision we signed with colleagues of the Deputy Ministers of National Economy and Finance, and the Protection of the Citizen, to establish a Secondary School of Vocational Education (EPAL) in the Larissa prison shop, we are putting another one in the overall effort. But most of all, we take an essential step towards enhancing educational equality and social reintegration. Education is a highest human right and cannot exclude anyone. By providing prisoners access to structured and quality vocational education, we give real opportunities for personal development, reintegration and a new way of life after their sentence. We provide them with the “social passport” for the next day. Education is not a privilege, it is the foundation of hope and progress. “