Every month students are leaving their private schools

They are returning to public schools even during the school year

  

Private schools are recording losses, and approximately 4,000 students have left them, after the inability of their parents to pay tuition. At the same time teachers of private schools have seen their wages reduced up to 40% from last month, as the owners threaten to shut down schools. The crisis however, brought back the "notebook calculators" even in private schools, as many parents seek additional time by the directors of schools to pay tuition. There are quite a few parents who seek the reduction of fees in order to be consistent and not take their children from schools.

However, the education ministry seems determined to make changes to private education with a bill it is preparing by studying the possibility to give private owners the ability to move as they wish in the programs of Foreign Languages ​​and Informatics, regardless of the program in public schools. The deputy minister of education Evi Christophilopoulou, is likely to choose this solution for private schools, as it favors the recruitment of teachers. Deputy education minister Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos met with a delegation of the Association of Founders of Greek Private Schools. Among other things they discussed the issue of the new payroll.

According to the Association, the reduction in the registrations of students came at an average of 5%, with the larger percentages occurring in the lyceum ranks. Letters arrive daily at the ministry of education from private schools that are unable to continue and threaten to lock down if they don’t proceed to salary reductions.

On the other hand, and according to the president of private teachers Michalis Kouroutos, teachers indicate that their salaries should not be equated to the wages of civil servants, considering the cuts as illegal. As Kouroutos says the wages in private education increased from 2004 to 2010 by 1% -3%, in line with the increases of the public officials.

In contrast, tuition at private schools, has increased from 40% to 150%, after being freed by Sioufas’ law, while tuition remained the same over the last two years, by decision of the department of commerce. "Not all schools are moving at the same speed, as there are schools that keep their students, while others count losses."

The chairman of the Association of Founders of Greek Private Schools Thanasis Zahopoulos, notes that many private schools did not implement the public education reduction but were limited to a 10% cut, in cases where schools do not have a problem. According to reports, 220 ​​private schools are operating throughout the country this year.

Mid-class parents, even businessmen that are not doing so well, are unable to send their children to private schools. So far 6 private primary and secondary schools across the country have shut down. In order to save about 800 euros, several parents cut the expense of the school bus by driving their kids to school themselves themselves.