07-07-16 Education Minister Nikos Filis responds to press reports

What exactly do they want?

We are reducing the cost of university textbooks in order to save funds for student needs (such as funding dormitories) and they tell us that we are taking away the books from university students. Had we not moved to cut costs, they would have charged that we are proponents of state waste.

We are conducting the legal reviews provided by law at private schools, and they accuse us of wanting to shut down private schools. Had we not done the reviews, they would have accused us of inertia and of wanting to cover up violations, as occurred in the recent case of bogus degrees (used in the past by some to enter the civil service).

For the first time in many years we are awarding scholarships through the Foundation of State Scholarships (IKY), and they object because we are broadening the categories of those who qualify so as to increase the number of recipients and absorb the related EU funding. Had we not done so, they would have accused us of opposing excellence.

We are pursuing ripe changes and reforms in all levels of education and we are drawing on tenured teachers to the maximum degree, and they criticise us with the sole argument that we are purportedly dramatically reducing hirings of substitute teachers. Had we not acted as we have, we would have been blamed – justly – of inefficiency and mismanagement of funds.

What exactly do they want of us after all?