Textbook ready to hit schools
Education Minister Marietta Giannakou confirmed yesterday that the controversial history textbook for 11-year-olds has been overhauled but said that people would have to wait until the new school year to see the final version of the tome. «The writers accepted that there were historical mistakes and inaccuracies,» said Giannakou. «This book now does not have the mistakes of the previous version. We hope that the reception of the book by the education community will be positive.» Teachers at 200 schools in Greece and Cyprus will evaluate the new book during the new school year. The original book was deemed by critics not to have given primary schoolchildren an accurate insight into Greek history, particularly the suffering of Greeks at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and in Asia Minor. Giannakou revealed yesterday that schoolchildren will also be given a copy of Dido Sotiriou’s work of fiction «Farewell Anatolia,» which chronicles the tearing apart of the Greek and Turkish communities in Asia Minor.
