Graduation certificates for students across Greece will be handed out for the first time in history, without a religious status printed on them, as Greek Education Minister Kostas Gavroglou passed a new motion deleting this information just a few days before they go to print.
Without giving a reason as to why the decision was made, Minister Gavroglou, at the last minute issued letters to school managers all around the country, stating religious status of students must not be included.
Syriza’s Gavroglou also added that only parents who request for their children’s religion to be included are allowed this option but the request for this must be made in writing. Parents, however, were not informed in time and now certificates will be printed without the student's religion.
School principals are now also required to register only the mother’s maiden name and not to refer to the family name of each student on the certificate.
The Minister of Education’s new decisions has raised many questions as they were only made public in the Government Gazette a few days ago, and were not previously mentioned.
Many parents have been left furious they were not given enough time to request for their child’s religion to be added and are demanding answers from the Minister, who is remaining silent on the issue.