Refugee children to start first classes in Greece

By Idyli Tsakiri

ATHENS

Refugee children are to begin lessons in Greek schools for the first time next week, Education Minister Nikos Filis said Wednesday.

He told a news conference in Athens that 1,500 children would be taught at 20 public schools or in classrooms at six refugee camps from Monday.

Other centers for education will later follow. “The education of refugee children obeys the international obligations of the country regarding care and the right to education [and follows] the national legislation and Greek people’s feelings of hospitality, solidarity and love towards refugees and their children,” Filis said.

More than 60,000 refugees and migrants are in Greece, often held in conditions that have been condemned by human rights groups.

Last month, parents in Oreocastro, northern Greece, protested against schooling refugees alongside their children, local media reported, while in Athens primary schoolchildren wrote a letter calling for refugee children to join their school, the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper said.