Dozens of Schools in Greece to Stay Closed Despite Start of New School Year

Greece will not be able to open dozens of schools across the country due to a lack of teaching staff.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Greece will not be able to open dozens of schools and kindergartens across the country due to a lack of teaching staff despite the scheduled start of the new school year, local media reported Thursday.

The new school year begins in Greece on Friday, but because of insufficient funding Athens cannot pay salaries to the required number of teachers.

“In Iraklio in Crete, 16 elementary schools and 23 kindergartens will not be opening,” Vassilis Papayiannis, a representative of the Central Board of Primary Education, said, as quoted by the Greek Ekaterimeni newspaper.

The newspaper also reported on problems in the southern Greek region of Laconia, where schools have resorted to inviting volunteers to teach classes.

The Greek authorities allocated additional resources, from the European Union and public investment funds, to hire additional teachers and attract more volunteers but they were unable to fill all the gaps.

The ongoing staff crisis in the Greek education system resembles last year, when there was a shortage of some 12,000 teachers in Greece before the beginning of the new school year.