Balkan neighbors show interest in learning Greek
THESSALONIKI – Primary schools in the Balkans are opening their classrooms after hours for courses in Greek. Over 500 children aged 8 to 12 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bulgaria and Moldova have been learning the language at 16 schools over the past five years. The initiative has not come from the Greek state but from a group of people in Thessaloniki for the sole purpose of spreading the use of the language in the Balkans. At the head of the effort is Sotiris Chrysafis, professor emeritus of dentistry at Thessaloniki University, who thought of setting up the first classes after interest was shown by ethnic Greeks in the town of Stromnica, in FYROM. Demand was so high among the children and from local authorities in other towns that a broader network of schools has now been set up, stretching from Bulgaria to Montenegro. The classes are for all primary school children in the Balkans, apart from Albania, where other organizations are already active in this field. Lessons are held after school hours and on Saturdays. The courses in Stromnica were just the beginning, and were soon followed by others in Veles, Gevgeli, Valadovo, Negorci, Boganci and Doirani, spreading to the Bulgarian towns of Byala and Stara Zagora, two in Varna, another in Silistria, Stenimacho, Kozaka and one in Gagaouzia, the autonomous part of Moldova where there have been Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians since the 17th century, whose roots originate in Cappadocia. Soon two more are to open, one in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and one in Montenegro. As it would not have been possible for 20 individuals to set up such an undertaking on their own, the Aeropos Association, now numbering 300 members throughout Greece, was set up. The cost of holding the lessons, including books, teachers’ salaries and other teaching materials is covered by the association’s annual membership fees. «As demand is so high, we could do more but we are limited by our finances,» said Chrysafis, who added that not only children of ethnic Greeks but of other ethnic groups were interested in learning Greek as a second or third language. Teachers are of Greek origin or have studied the Greek language. In many towns Aeropos’s efforts have the support of associations of Greeks, such as those in Byala, Stara Zagora and Varna. Ristovska Ratmila, who has been teaching at the Valadovo (FYROM) school for two years, learned the language in Greece. «Learning Greek is now obligatory, as most investments being made in the region near the borders are by Greek firms. «My compatriots’ children see their futures in these firms; they also realize that Greece is our door to Europe,» she told Kathimerini. At the age of 15, Ratmila went to Thessaloniki where she graduated from the 1st Cross-Cultural Senior High School at Thessaloniki University.
