A 9-month national dialogue begins for the new National Diploma, with cross-party support aimed at reforming the high school system to meet major technological and professional challenges of our era, as announced on Tuesday (03/02) by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during an inter-ministerial meeting at the Maximos Mansion. According to the Ministry of Education announcement, the central premise of the dialogue is the need to break the “all at once” model, without compromising the credibility and quality of the Panhellenic examinations. The process is expected to begin next week in Parliament’s Education Committee and is scheduled to last nine months, with distinct phases aimed at formulating the relevant legislative initiative by the end of 2026.
Read more: National Diploma: Implementation from 2027-28 without abolishing Panhellenic exams – All the changes (Images & video)
National Diploma: Which students are affected
During the inter-ministerial meeting, it was clarified that the proposed changes do not affect current high school students or third-year middle school students, while emphasizing that Panhellenic examinations are not being abolished. The first potential implementation horizon is the first year of high school, academic year 2027-2028.
The National Diploma dialogue
According to the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports announcement, the dialogue has a clear institutional boundary: it focuses on high school education and the National Diploma.
It starts from a common understanding of educational reality, based on:
- data,
- international practices,
- school practice experience,
- and future challenges.
It doesn’t start with ready solutions. It starts with questions, principles and prerequisites.
Additionally, it’s emphasized that the dialogue is not a closed-door technical discussion, nor does it constitute a draft bill announcement.
Core and objectives of the reform
- Credibility of the high school diploma.
- Justice and comparability of results.
- Reduction of exam-centered pressure, without compromising credibility.
- Social acceptance before implementation.
- Strong safeguards against grade inflation.
The five pillars of the National Diploma
The national dialogue will revolve around five thematic pillars, supervised by an equal number of sub-groups, staffed by professors and teachers from tertiary, secondary and primary education, to achieve synthesis of proposals from all stages of student life.
The first pillar concerns educational content, including curriculum, the second school life, the third teacher training and professional development, the fourth building, digital and laboratory infrastructure and the fifth governance.
The process includes:
- thematic working sub-groups,
- regional forums,
- digital consultation platform.
Participation of universities and political parties ensures academic continuity and political legitimacy, without role confusion.
Coordination will be handled by the national dialogue group under the leadership of University of Piraeus Rector Michalis Sfakianakis, which will include three deans and scientific advisors responsible for horizontal monitoring of all pillars.
The dialogue timeline
- February 2026: Launch – working groups – guiding questions
- March–April 2026: Thematic discussions & participatory dialogue
- May–June 2026: Synthesis & processing of special issues
- July–September 2026: Public consultation on Position Paper
- October 2026: Final Report & implementation roadmap with pilot phases
The dialogue proceeds gradually, with milestones and independent evaluation.
What Kyriakos Mitsotakis said about the National Diploma
At the opening of the National Diploma session, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisclarified that the meeting doesn’t aim to announce decisions, but to open a broader discussion about education, which he characterized as an issue that transcends ideological barriers, electoral cycles and party calculations. As he emphasized, education doesn’t belong exclusively to any government, but to the country’s future, and requires a system from kindergarten to university that responds to the needs of the new era, as –he noted– changes in learning and work are “stunning”. He reminded that a child starting preschool today will finish school in 2040, so the discussion must be long-term and include everyone: the State, parents, educators, and the students themselves.
In the same context, he mentioned that the national dialogue will evaluate reforms already launched since 2019, but mainly will focus on the future of high school and the plan for the “National Diploma”. Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that high school shouldn’t function as a “sterile” space for university preparation, but should acquire its own autonomy and equip young people with skills and abilities regardless of the path they follow. He also pointed out that not all students end up in higher education, noting that the government has invested particularly in technical education, while acknowledging that high school, as it is today, has largely lost its independent educational role and this “must change”.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the government seeks to provide ample time and avoid surprises. In this context, he announced the establishment of an independent technocratic committee to organize the dialogue, headed by University of Piraeus rector Michalis Sfakianakis, whom he thanked for his response. At the same time, he appealed for honesty, open spirit and willingness to reach consensus, noting that even opposition parties, such as PASOK and SYRIZA, had supported similar changes in the past.
As he mentioned, the government has initial thoughts, without having reached a specific plan for the high school of the future, as –he said– the goal is to “listen more and talk less”. The timeline he set is for the dialogue to conclude by the end of the year with a legislative initiative, which would be “wishful thinking” to be supported by more than one party. Such a development, he concluded, would not be a government success, but “Greece’s overall success”.
Sofia Zacharaki: Education is a national matter
Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports Sofia Zacharaki thanked the head of the national dialogue group, Michalis Sfakianakis, for undertaking –as she said– an “invitation but mainly the challenge” to conduct an honest dialogue without a short timeframe. She emphasized that the goal is to have ample time for all stakeholders to participate, with themes already defined and with a 2040 horizon, giving clear answers to parents and students about what they can expect in the coming years regarding textbooks and curricula.
At the center, as she mentioned, is strengthening the diploma, which –according to the minister– “has lost its power as an isolated achievement of children”, so it can regain its role, with public and free tools such as the state language proficiency certificate, IT skills certification, new digital skills and, broadly, a student profile that will favor synthetic thinking. At the same time, she emphasized that the discussion doesn’t start “from scratch,” as the dialogue will evaluate interventions from recent years, starting from the acknowledgment that education is a “national matter”. As she noted, the goal is to define the graduate who can claim their future with an “independent, strong National Diploma”, taking into account that not all children end up in higher education and many choose vocational training or seek time to decide their next step.
Sofia Zacharaki added that the dialogue will touch the entire educational journey –from kindergarten to middle school– and will include infrastructure, training, evaluation issues, as well as phenomena like grade inflation, with the goal of “better and more faithful representation of children’s abilities”. She described the process as nine-month, with an institutionally established independent authority, participation of education professionals from all levels, parents, students and institutional representatives, while announcing public digital consultation, emphasizing that education issues cannot be discussed “in closed rooms”. At the same time, she called on political parties to submit their views, announcing that the government will immediately go to the Education Committee next week, while adding that further clarifications will be given in a press conference within the week to education reporters.
Michalis Sfakianakis: Education must be put on stable tracks
For his part, University of Piraeus rector and head of the national dialogue group, Michalis Sfakianakis, thanked the Prime Minister and participants for their trust, noting that this is a role that “every educator dreams” of taking on. He insisted that education must be put on “stable tracks”, characterized high school as a critical stage in every student’s journey and emphasized that a fair, stable and effective evaluation system is required, ensuring the broadest possible consensus to avoid frequent policy changes with government alternation.
“We must put education basics on stable tracks. Certainly high school is a piece that is very important in a child’s journey, in the formation stages they face. And certainly we must reach a system that will be governed by evaluation, where this evaluation will be effective, fair, stable,” he noted. As he mentioned, international data and new technologies will be considered in planning, which can function supportively.
