Gov’t rapped over book delay
Teachers’ unions and opposition politicians yesterday criticized the government for failing to distribute a controversial new history book for primary students to schools in time for today’s launch of the new academic year. Critics suggested that authorities had delayed the printing intentionally so that distribution of the new book, which many have condemned for offering an inaccurate picture of Greek history, would not coincide with general elections, due on Sunday. «The book is not available anywhere,» the president of the Greek Primary School Teachers’ Federation (DOE), Dimitris Bratis, said. «It is unprecedented for an organized state to hide a corrected textbook for pre-election reasons,» he added. But the Education Ministry’s general secretary, Andreas Karamanos, said the delays occurred because printing presses were working overtime to produce campaign leaflets and posters. He said the book is being printed now. About 15 percent of textbooks for high schools will be distributed to schools a few days late, Karamanos added. DOE’s Bratis also complained about alleged understaffing at schools, claiming that there were 4,000 vacancies at kindergartens and primary schools. A spokesman for the Federation of Secondary School Teachers (OLME), Grigoris Kalomiris, said that high schools were lacking 5,000 permanent staff. «It is said that the new academic year is beginning with more problems than ever before,» PASOK spokesman Michalis Chrysochoidis said. In a separate development, the Education Ministry clashed with local authorities in the fire-ravaged prefecture of Ileia who refused to open schools due to safety fears posed by «burnt trees that have yet to be felled and the risk of floods.» The ministry called the local initiative «arbitrary and illegal.»
