05-09-16 Nikos Filis inaugurates Penteli school, extols central, local government, business cooperation
Education, Research and Religious Affairs Minister Nikos Filis inaugurated the 2nd Primary School, the 2nd kindergarten and the closed gymnasium of the Municipal Community of Penteli (Kallithea, Penteli, Iasonos and Iras Streets)
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos, who officiated at the blessing of the new facilities, underlined that, “Education must be our top objective.”
Nikos Filis’ remarks follow:
“At a difficult time of economic constraints for our country, we are inaugurating a new, beautiful and creative school in which the children, through a participatory process, can discover knowledge. The construction of this school belies certain myths.
The first myth is that there can be no cooperation between the central government, local government, and private enterprise. All three cooperated to complete the school. The contribution of the mayor and local government was decisive. The second myth is that nothing can happen in Greece without governmental resources. The foundations of the school were laid before the 2015 elections, in December 2014. During construction elections were held, but the school was completed on schedule, which means that public administration is slowly acquiring autonomy and maturity.
This school was built with the financial support of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The ministry is continuing its cooperation with the EIB and with the Council of Europe Development Bank in order to create new school facilities in various parts of the country and to create the infrastructure for the digital school, because both are necessary for a contemporary, functional school.
The soul of the school is the teachers, and the state is obliged to help them. Even if economic difficulties do not permit us to recognise their work in material terms, at least we must not discredit it. We must not think it is an easy job. We must recognise their role, and that we entrust our children to them. We must recognise that the children at this school have an advantage in a more general difficult situation. They are the children that will feel the repercussions of the crisis less than the preceding generation of students. We are working for that. That is why we are promoting a democratic educational reform, establishing as of this year the all-day primary school and the new all-day kindergartens, so that soon our country, in exiting the crisis, can utilise the accomplishments and capabilities of education.
