Minority schools are going to be merged!

On 11 April 2011, the Greek Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs an-nounced that in an attempt to increase the education, the schools in Thrace were going to be re-structured. According to the statement on the website of the Ministry, in order to accelerate the process for incensement of the quality of education and to ensure coordination of related institu-tions, the Deputy Minister Fofi Gennimata was going to visit Western Thrace in the coming days.

The Ministry of Education stated that for the development of schools it was going to take account of both the general principles and the special elements constituting the system of the minority schools in (Western) Thrace adding that it intervened at that stage the schools which had a small number of pupils, could not offer quality education and were located within walking distance.

According to the concerning statement, besides the climatic and road conditions, the Ministry con-sidered also the transportation of pupils to another school in the region and the infrastructural characteristics of the school which was going to be attended in determining the schools to be merged. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education stated that with regard to yield dialogue with the purpose of improving the quality of education at schools which did not meet those criteria and had a small number of pupils, it talked with the educators, representatives of local authorities and par-ents of the pupils.

With regard to the issue, Halit Habipoglu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) stated the following: “The need to merge those schools having a small number of pupils and not offering high quality education seems to be proper in this environment economic cri-sis. However, the concerning statement of the Ministry is just acceptable for public schools. The one-sided regulation by the State to merge minority schools which possess the private school status also represents a problem in terms of bilateral treaties signed between Turkey and Greece. More-over, the decisions taken about a subject matter which will have a direct influence on the Turkish minority of Western Thrace without considering its opinion will raise, above all things, the question of confidence. Therefore, in an environment of trust problems, we believe that the visit of Ms. Deputy Minister Gennimata to Western Thrace will not bring an outcome in the practice. Just as in the question of the Special Teacher Training Academy of Thessaloniki (EPATH)…”.

The regarding statement of the Ministry of Education is available at
http://www.minedu.gov.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2483%3A15-04-11-protasi-toy-ypdmth-se-sxesi-me-ti-leitoyrgia-ton-meionotikon-sxoleion&catid=80%3Adeltia-typoy&Itemid=806&lang=el.