The draft law of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports entitled “Strengthening the National Vocational Education and Training System” was voted yesterday by the Plenary of the Parliament and is already a law of the state.

As pointed out in an announcement by the Ministry of Education, the purpose of the new law is the overall upgrade in terms of Vocational Education and Training, with the aim of being the first and reliable choice for many young women and men.

In particular, it is noted:

  • The IEKs are being upgraded and renamed Schools of Higher Vocational Training (SAEK). It is intended that SAEK acquire an extremely expanded role in terms of actively connecting their trainees and graduates with the labor market at local, regional and sectoral level.
  • In addition, in SAEK, from February 2024, 130 new Training Guides will be integrated.
  • Vocational Education and Training Centers (VET) are established for the development of synergies between all Vocational Education and Training structures and their connection to the labor market and the local economy. In each KEEK, Vocational High Schools (EPA.L-P.EPA.L), Laboratory Centers, Vocational Training Schools or SAEK will co-exist and interact, while the Post-High School Year – Apprenticeship Class will also be provided.

For the establishment of a K.E.K.E.K. at least one education structure, one training structure and one laboratory center (EC) should co-exist in the same space (campus), while emphasis will be placed on additional criteria, such as teaching spaces, logistical infrastructure, accessibility for the disabled and proximity by means of transport. It is estimated that approximately 60 KEEK – campuses will be established throughout the territory, most of which will be thematically targeted.

  • The Professional Development and Career Offices (GEAS) are established and operate as organic units of KEEK. GEAS will collaborate with professional bodies, study and process statistical data, and ensure that students’ professional needs are met. Through personalized counseling services, students/apprentices/trainees will be informed about the characteristics and professional prospects of the profession they choose, as well as about the possibilities of transferability to subsequent levels of education.
  • A digital GEAS information portal is being created, which will contain: the specialties offered by each educational structure (ESK/ EPAL/ IEK/ Post-secondary year – Apprenticeship class), the institutional framework for the Internship/Apprenticeship, frequently asked questions, details of contact persons for provision of information to trainees and businesses, the list of professionals-businesses at the local level (municipality-community-neighboring municipalities) with details of the contact person, the advertisement field by businesses to search for students/apprentices/trainees/graduates for Internship/Apprenticeship/ permanent employment as well as statistics on the professional development and rehabilitation of graduates.
  • The special provisions of the EPAL Standards are generalized to all EPA.L. Thus, from September 2025, institutions and functions such as the Coordinating Committee of the Model Vocational Lyceum, the practical training of students, the implementation of new study programs and their harmonization with the needs of the local economy will be the norm for all EPAL of the country, the creation of virtual businesses.

The P.EPA.L will continue to exist and function as cells of innovation, integrating into their daily life and developing even more practices that will gradually be established for all the P.EPA.L.

  • The Laboratory Centers are being strengthened with modern equipment worth 114 million euros.

In his speech, the Minister of Education, Religion and Sports Kyriakos Pierrakakis said, among other things:

“The current reform initiative of the Government and the Ministry of Education is the first of many that will follow, but I think it has a special symbolic value to start with Vocational Education and Training precisely because that is where we want to give an additional center of gravity. We believe that there is a very important opportunity for the country. An opportunity that we must take advantage of and through this law we seek to achieve it further. The context, overall, of the reform that must be done in education must touch everything. This is exactly why we want to put a very strong emphasis on Vocational Education and Training through the Draft Law we are submitting today, among others. But it is not only the Draft Law.

The 2020 Act included many innovations, innovations that we are currently further building on. And here I want to say and underline a philosophical dimension that for us the laws are alive, we do not hesitate to constantly improve them. I would say that any engineer knows that if he does not constantly improve his creation, this creation ceases to be able to respond over time even to the original problem, the original one that he wanted to solve.

We try to transmute this culture, honestly, in everything we do.

So, in this context, taking advantage of these provisions of the law and given that the improvements are also reflected in the numbers. Here, I will mention indicatively that as far as EPAL is concerned in 2018 the participation was around 28% and now it is somewhere around 33.5%. It is a positive change. This change is visible and reflected.

But obviously we can’t stop there. Because if the question is asked, correctly, by any of you “what is the corresponding percentage in the European Union?” quite rightly all of us will say that it is of the order of 48% to 50%. So we have to make way. For us, this law comes to help cover part of this path. What we want to do is to create and give as many opportunities as possible, overall, with all the reforms we will make, at all levels of education. Opportunities for young Greek citizens, for young Greek women.

This is the first step of many. We must move quickly. We have to make very big changes at all levels of education, making use of all those that have been done on our part in the last four years. And we need to get the country moving. There will be dialogue and discussion, take it for granted, it is foreseen by the institutional parameters of the consultation. But what will be even more will be momentum, speed, a reforming direction and a mood for very big changes”.