One of the reasons people want to move to Greece is to provide a better quality of life for their children. There is no doubt that in Greece family is still all-important; respect and affection for older family members is part of the Greek culture and in many families parents still live with their children.
If you have decided to move to Greece and are taking your young family with you, one of your concerns is going to be education. That being so, you may be happy to hear that, embodied in the Greek constitution, all citizens (and certain foreigners who live and work in the country) are entitled to free education. In Greece, it is obligatory for all children from 6 to 15 years old to attend school, while children from two-and-a-half years of age can be enrolled in either public or private crèches (vrefonipiakoi paidikoi stathmi. Some have nursery classes (nipiaka tmimata) as well as kindergartens (nipiagogeia).

Children who are five years and six months old on 1 October are entitled to register for the first grade for the upcoming school year. Registration for primary school (dimotiko) and kindergarten usually takes place from 1–21 June at the school itself. Children attend school in the district where they live - the Town Hall will be able to advise parents of their catchment area.

Enrolment at secondary school usually takes place at the primary school that the child is already attending. In Athens, children are generally assigned to a school, whereas in more rural areas there may be a choice of schools that your child may attend. Newcomers to Greece should again contact their Town Hall for information on enrolment procedures.

To register a child for school, a parent or guardian will be asked to provide the following documentation for the student (this is a summary; additional documentation may be required):

•  Birth certificate
•  Records of vaccinations for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whooping Cough, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Tuberculosis
•  Record of dental examinations
•  Proof of residency, such as a utility bill

Any documents in a language other than Greek must be translated into Greek by an official translator.

The Greek Educational System consists of three levels:

Primary (called dimotiko or elementary school), Secondary (gymnasio and lykeio, i.e. junior and senior high school respectively) and Tertiary education level.

Primary education level can be divided into Pre-school Education, which is offered by kindergartens, and Compulsory Primary Education, which is offered by Primary schools. This basic education is compulsory for the entire population and provides people in their childhood and early adolescence with the rudimentary knowledge required to function in society.

The primary school year starts in mid-September and ends in mid-June. The school day lasts from approximately 08:15 to 13:30. Subjects taught include Modern Greek, mathematics, environmental studies, history, physical education and art. In the fourth grade courses in a foreign language, culture, and music are included. In the fifth and sixth grade, social studies, civics and physics are added.

Secondary education level is available in two cycles:

Compulsory Lower Level Secondary Education: this is offered at Gymnasiums. Post-compulsory, Upper Secondary Education is offered by the Unified Lyceums and Technical Vocational Educational Institutes. This corresponds to senior high or upper secondary school.

The gymnasia school year generally runs from mid-September to mid-May, with classes five days a week. The school week is 34 to 35 hours. Both public and private gymnasia are available.

Tertiary education: This is divided into University education, available from Universities and non-university education, which is offered by Higher Technological Educational Institutes and Higher Education Institutes (16 throughout the country). Post- graduate courses are also available at Tertiary education level.

Technical Education Institutes or TEI correspond to technical colleges and provide non-university education with a strongly vocational character. These colleges were recognised as part of higher education in 2001. 

Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their performance at national level, with examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the Hellenic Open University through a form of lottery.

Today universities and Technical Education Institutes are all state-funded, since the article 16 of the Constitution of the country stipulates explicitly that higher education be provided free of charge exclusively by public institutions. There is however a general trend of cuts in the students welfare, for instance only a very limited number of students have access to students residences, free meals etc. Books are still provided free of charge by the universities in the majority of the cases, although the tendency is towards cuts in this regard too. There is a move to changing this but it is a greater challenge than most governments are prepared to take on!

Although Greece is a small country, its 17 universities and more than 30 technological institutes are spread over a huge geographical area (including many islands). Sadly the locations have often been chosen for political reasons, making them inconvenient for students. What this ultimately means is that parents actually end up paying high costs in terms of travel, rent and living expenses. This may actually amount to less than the cost of sending their offspring to a university abroad.

There are a number of private International schools teaching in English in Athens, plus one in Thessaloniki. They too, however, mostly adhere to the Greek syllabus. There are also French and German schools in Athens. For a list of International schools and colleges just Google ‘International Schools Greece’ and they will come up.