On August 24th, the Greek parliament voted in the education reform bill submitted by education minister Anna Diamantopoulou, which included some of the most sweeping changes the country’s educational system has seen in living memory. The law introduces a UK-style administration of universities, with external individuals and non-academics taking part in the running of institutions and assessment-based and industry-oriented funding. Students are given a maximum amount of time to complete their courses, or face expulsion; the so-far compulsory distribution of free course readers to students is abolished, who also lose their say in the running of their institutions and are given a provision for student loans – speculation being rife that this is a first step toward the introduction of undergraduate fees.
In a very last minute tweak of the education bill, Diamantopoulou announced the complete abolishing of the historical Academic Asylum (which prevented police from entering academic grounds in the name of the freedom of expression) and the election of university vice-chancellors primarily from their academic community. The last minute changes aimed at, and succeeded in gaining the consensus of the Conservative party of Nea Dimokratia, which voted for the law along with the PASOK government MP’s and the far-right LAOS party.
Hours earlier, 1500-2000 students demonstrating in central Athens (in 35C!) where clashing with the police, while demonstrations also took place against the education reform bill in Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Patras.
6 Comments
How much more suffering are these politicians going to inflict to the Greek people????? This is outrageous. I’m glad to know people continue to resist and protest. Yet sometimes I wonder how much more is needed in order for these pigs to realize they can no longer do as they please.
Stay strong!
Luigi, from Buenos Aires.
Not only in Greece. As far as I know, similar neoliberal “education reforms” have been implemented in several EU countries during the last few years.
Yeah. Search under the ‘Bologna Accord’ it’s a Europe-wide plan, which is why the Italian students were also rioting earlier this year.
This is not something inflicted by politicians! This is inflicted by a financial dictatorship run by bankers and wankers.
This is disgusting, corporate, oligarchical repression that is happening all over the globe.
Fuck their police state….fuck their suffocation. it feels never ending.
Privatization of schools is a norm in the $tate$…highly funded/marauded by the junk food industry, among other interests.
Keep fighting!
The whole world is turning into a neo-liberal nightmare. There’s really nowhere left to hide.
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