Drop in public and privatespending on education

The economic recession in Greece in recent years has led to major cuts in education spending by both the state and individuals, a new study indicated on Tuesday.

Titled “Education in Greece: Crisis and Evolution of Public and Private Spending,” the study produced by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), an Athens-based, private, nonprofit, public-benefit research organization, covers the period 2000-16.

According to the study, following a major increase recorded between 2001 and 2009, in the 2010-16 period the government cut spending by 22.7 percent for secondary education and 14.1 percent for higher education, compared to 2.4 percent for primary education.

The IOBE study also found that the impact of the crisis on private spending on education was proportionally greater than that on public expenditure, as it fell from 3.3 billion in 2009 to 2.1 billion euros in 2016.

Greece spends less money on primary education in comparison with other European Union member-states, at 1.4 percent of GDP against an EU average of 1.5 percent, and on secondary education, at 1.3 percent against 1.9 percent.

The situation is better in higher education, as Greece’s spending of 0.8 percent is slightly above the EU average of 0.7 percent.

[Xinhua]