The pivotal role of schoolbooks in modern Greek history

Marking 200 years since the Greek Revolution, a three-day conference began Friday, highlighting the role played by schoolbooks over the history of the modern Greek state as well as the intellectual climate and attitudes of different periods.

This journey is reflected in the Digital Library of the Institute for Educational Policy (IEP), which contains some 9,000 textbooks, published from 1830 to the early 1980s.

The aim of the conference, organized by IEP in collaboration with the National Library of Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, is the pursuit of a critical approach to textbooks since 1821, with emphasis on the Greek language, literature, history, mathematics and natural sciences.

‘Textbooks have been the material body of this great spiritual journey,’ said IEP President Yiannis Antoniou.