Editorial: Education reform results

Is an educational reform useful?

The answer is perfectly clear. Whatever policy aims at the modernisation of Greece’s educational system – and consequently improves the quality of education that the state offers “future generations” - cannot but be useful for society.

Precisely because the objective, the future of our children, is so critical, the changes unveiled yesterday by the education minister must go forward with constant dialogue and persuasion – not only in theory but also on the level of daily practice.

The education ministry has a duty to discuss with all parties involved and with all political forces all the details of the draft legislation to be tabled in Parliament and to be open to observations and even corrections.

Only such a consensual procedure can ensure that the law Parliament will pass will not become a dead litter, a document in some ministry drawer.

The greater the number of teachers, parents, and students who will believe in the upgrading of schools which the government is touting, the more likely the law is to be enforced.

Parliament just 10 years ago passed an education law with a three-quarters majority. Long before it was dismantled six years later, it had been annulled in practice.

It is necessary to avoid the errors of the past. The desire to bring reform is not enough. Everything is judged by the palpable results.