Schools to start on September 11

Public schools will open on Friday, September 11, the Education Ministry’s general secretary Dimitris Hasapis said Thursday.

This had been the date on which schools were scheduled to resume classes but Hasapis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that there had been efforts to shift the opening day to Monday, September 14, or even after the snap elections, which are expected to take place on September 20.

However, delaying the start of the school year would have made it impossible for teachers to get through the curriculum in time and would have led to high school leavers having to take their exams in July, rather than June, said Hasapis.

The official also said that the ministry expects the teacher shortages to be less than the 20,000 initially estimated. He did not give an exact figure.