November bids farewell, students remain without school books

Everywhere across Greece, students still have not got the school books they should have received already since the beginning of this academic year. Despite reassurances by the country’s Education ministry that students would have their books by mid-November, they must stilldo their homework through DVDs and endless piles of photocopies only, as books remain the phantom of the school class.

The greatest problem is found in big cities such as the capital, Athens, and Thessaloniki in the north. Until now, only 55% of the total number of Greek schools has received all the books. Disorganization prevails and misunderstandings are a daily phenomenon, with schools receiving books which do not belong to them.
 
On top of that, the organization responsible for the printing of the school books is to close in a month. Although, other printing houses have taken on the time consuming project of printing the books, the mistakes identified due to lack of time are countless.

The major inability of the state to accommodate all students and provide them with the most essential tool, their school books, has also become a serious question in parliament, directed to the relevant minister, Anna Diamantopoulou. Quite recently, Democratic Alliance MP Lefteris Avgenakis asked the minister to give the precise time when the books will finally be ready and delivered to schools around the country.