It was back in 1996 that the Ministry for National Education and Religious Matters laid the foundations of a system designed to meet the educational needs of social groups with a particular social, cultural or religious identity.
The Ministry adopted cross-cultural education - a new form of education in Greece - as part of this policy.

The aim of cross-curriculum education is to set up and run primary and secondary classes that provide education to young people with a specific educational, social or cultural identity.

In cross-cultural schools, the standard curriculum is adapted to meet the specific educational, social or cultural needs of the students attending them

Cross-cultural schools

A total of 26 cross-cultural schools have been set up throughout Greece since 1996. These schools, which will continue to increase in number, guarantee equality of opportunity to every student in the country, while the cutting-edge approaches to teaching and learning utilised in these schools have a positive knock-on effect on the Greek educational system as a whole.

1. Of the 26 schools, 13 are primary schools, while there are 9 junior high schools and 4 senior high schools.
2. A school can only be described as cross-cultural when repatriated Greek and/or foreign students account for at least 45% of the total student body.
3. The educators in these schools receive special training, and are selected on the basis of their knowledge on the subject of cross-cultural education and teaching Greek as a second or foreign language.