Greece introduces major reforms in Education sector

Greece’s Ministry of Education has prepared a new draft bill for proposed changes in secondary education throughout the country.

The proposed changes were discussed on Monday in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

During the meeting, Education Minister Kostas Gavroglou presented the reforms, which propose extending compulsory education by two years - to include the first and second grade of Greece's three-year high school and also the third grade over the next two years.

The government's aim is for compulsory education- along with pre-school education-to increase to 14 years instead of nine.

Concerning university entrance, the bill proposes adding up the sum of the scores achieved of the exams (written, oral, homework) and the nationwide university entrance exams, but the proportion that will be attributed will be the result of a consultation.

Also discussed during the cabinet meeting were the wildfires that raged around the country this summer and the establishment of stricter rules for burned land by designating and ordering their immediate reforestation and topping efforts to change the use of land in those areas.

The ministers also decided the swift implementation of anti-flooding and anti-erosion work.