History book set for correction
The controversial junior high school history book will be reviewed and altered but not withdrawn, officials said yesterday as academics called for an end to the fuss over the textbook. Education Minister Marietta Giannakou yesterday handed the book’s authors a report by the Academy of Athens, a research and scientific organization that advises the government. The report, which has not been made public, suggests some changes be made to the textbook but does not advise the government to replace it completely, sources said. This position appears to be confirmed by Maria Repousi, a professor at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University who headed the team that compiled the textbook for 12-year-olds. «The book will not be withdrawn,» she told Kathimerini. «The authors will meet and examine the proposals that have been submitted.» Critics of the book, which include the Church of Greece, believe that the authors have not provided enough information about key moments in Greek history and have played down the suffering of Greeks at the hands of Ottoman rulers. In a statement, Giannakou said that she has asked the book’s authors to «take into account» the points made by the Academy of Athens as well as the Cypriot Education Ministry, which rejected the book outright. The minister has also asked some 200 schoolteachers who have used the book to submit their comments. The government wants any revisions to the book to be made this summer so it can be reissued in time for the new school year, which begins in September. In a bid to stave off criticism, the Education Ministry yesterday also sent junior high schools CDs with more information about the subjects covered in the book to be used as teaching aids. Meanwhile, academics have called for the criticism of the book to be toned down. «The book has to pass through various stages of approval… it is absolutely necessary that it be evaluated by teachers,» Christina Koulouri, a history professor at the University of the Peloponnese, told Kathimerini. «I am against extreme and fanatical views and those that act in the heat of the moment.»
