Schools have received a resounding vote of no confidence in a survey of senior high school pupils in the country’s two largest cities.
Seventeen and 18-year-olds in Athens and Salonica say the system fails to satisfy their intellectual needs and are demanding more money for education, a radically different system of entrance examinations to universities, and effective careers guidance.
Lack of adequate funding for education is the biggest problem, mentioned by half of the students, who criticise poor school buildings and books and lack of modern technology and sporting facilities. Forty-four per cent claim that the current educational system encourages parrot-fashion learning without proper assimilation of the material or use of the student’s critical judgment. Nearly as many say they are worried by lack of proper careers guidance.
