Samos protest against schooling for migrant children continues

Numerous parents of pupils at a primary school on the eastern Aegean island of Samos kept their children away from classes on Monday in protest at the admission of children from the island’s refugee camps.

According to reports, 106 out of 150 pupils at the Ano Vatheos school did not attend.

The decision to continue the boycott, which started last week, was taken after a vote, with 70 parents in favor and 16 against. A parents meeting later on Monday was expected to call on parents around the island not to send their children to school tomorrow.

The Education Ministry has lambasted what it calls an effort over the last two weeks “to cultivate a climate of racism and xenophobia.”

Protesting parents say that accepting children from the camps at the island’s schools poses a “public health hazard.”