Time is counting down to the start of the new 2025-2026 school year, as the first bell will ring on Thursday, September 11. In fact, from the 1st of the month, teachers are already in schools, making the necessary preparations so that after the blessing ceremony, classes can begin normally without losing instructional time. At the same time, the Ministry of Education is proceeding with the appointment of substitute teachers, so that students of Primary and Secondary Education can start classes from Friday, September 12.
Read: Substitute teachers: 23,000 – 24,000 hirings in the first phase
When students have problems with absences in elementary school
In elementary school, although an attendance register is not implemented as in middle and high schools, this does not mean that attendance is not mandatory or that students can be absent whenever they want. As the Ministry clarifies, attendance monitoring is done by the class teacher, absences are recorded daily and entered into the mySchool information system. Additionally, the possibility of early departure or delayed arrival for students is provided when required for medical care or therapeutic intervention, with the submission of a relevant certificate from a public entity, stating the necessity and duration of the absence. It is emphasized that both the entity issuing the certificate and the one providing therapy or medical support must be public.
When a student is systematically and unjustifiably absent from school, the class teacher immediately contacts the parents/guardians and informs the Principal or Head of the school. If the problem of systematic and unjustified absence is not resolved with the actions of paragraph 2 of this article, the student and the student’s family are sought through police and municipal authorities as well as the competent social service.
In cases where the above search does not yield results, the systematic and unjustified absence of the student is reported to the competent Director of Primary Education along with the actions that have been taken. The competent Director of Primary Education searches for the student in all schools of the relevant Directorate. When this action also does not yield results, the competent Director of Primary Education submits a relevant report to the competent Regional Director of Education who searches for the student in all schools of the relevant region. When this action also does not yield results, the Regional Director of Education submits a relevant report to the Primary Education Studies Directorate of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, accompanied by a report containing the elements of the investigation conducted. The search in all schools of the country is conducted by the Primary Education Studies Directorate of the Ministry of Education.
The absence limit for middle schools and high schools
Secondary education students must be particularly careful with their absences as this year, like last year, the system of justified and unjustified absences applies with a maximum limit of 114. Unjustified absences cannot exceed 50, while individual hours are not justified.
Parents and guardians can justify a total of only 5 days of absences per year and up to 2 consecutive days. Justification of absences can be done with a responsible declaration from the parent or guardian to the school, either with physical presence or by sending an email. For the remaining absences, including Covid 19, a doctor’s note is required along with the responsible declaration. The time limit for justifying absences is 10 days.
Late arrival of a student after the teacher’s entry into the classroom is considered an absence.
Which absences are unjustified
- Absence of a student from cultural or sports events that take place within the school’s timetable is considered an unjustified absence for as many teaching hours as the timetable provides on the day of their implementation.
- Absence of a student from celebratory anniversary events of the school is considered an unjustified absence for as many teaching hours as the timetable provides on the day of their implementation.
- Absence of a student from a walk without using transportation is considered absence from all hourly lessons provided by the timetable on the day of its implementation. These absences are not taken into account in the attendance characterization. In excursions in which students do not participate but do not remain at school to follow a specially designed timetable or do not participate in school activities by decision of the Teaching Staff, according to the provisions of the relevant ministerial decision, absences are recorded as unjustified absences. Late arrival of a student after the teacher’s entry into the classroom is considered an absence.
If students exceed unjustified absences, they will not be able to take exams and will remain in the same grade.
Absences excluded in attendance characterization
- All student absences are recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log). For the characterization of student attendance, the following cases are not taken into account, which do not fall under the provisions of article 25:
a) absences from school, during school operating hours, of students participating in activities, abroad or domestically, which have been approved by the bodies provided by relevant provisions,
b) absences of students for their appearance before the Military Selection Council, which is legally certified,
c) absences of students: ca) of the Roman Catholic Doctrine during the feasts of the Mystery of Joseph, of the Holy Gift and from the previous until the next Latin Easter, cb) of the Jewish Religion the previous and the 1st of the Jewish Year, the Day of Atonement, as well as the previous and the day of the Jewish Passover, cc) of the Muslim Religion during the days of the feasts Eid Al-Fitr (Seker Bayram) and Eid Al-Adha (Kurban Bayram), as well as the day after them. For the absences of this case not to be taken into account, a responsible declaration of law 1599/1989 (A’ 75) must be submitted by the student or parents/guardians/those exercising care if minor, declaring the dates of the above.
d) absences of students that occurred due to their transfer to a Gymnasium or General Lyceum or EPAL up to three (3) days, which do not include absences that occurred on the day of issuance of the transfer service note,
e) absences of students who are exempted from participation in the teaching of subjects, but during the time of teaching are present at school, according to article 22,
f) absences of students due to adverse weather conditions, which objectively make it difficult to arrive at school,
g) absences of students participating in a long-term mobility program abroad, which cannot exceed four (4) months, provided that upon their return they present a relevant certificate certifying their attendance during their stay there,
h) absences of students due to short-term or short-day strikes of intercity buses KTEL certified by the relevant Regional Governor or strikes of Mass Transport Media certified by the relevant body are not taken into account for the characterization of student attendance, provided they use mass transport to go to school, i) absences of up to two (2) days for morning visits to KEDASDY for investigation and certification of special educational needs.
- Recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log) but not counted are absences up to twenty-four (24) days for the entire academic year:
a) for students undergoing systematic hemodialysis following kidney failure or undergoing peritoneal dialysis,
b) for students undergoing transplant acceptance therapy,
c) for students suffering from all types of neoplasms and undergoing maintenance therapy,
d) for students suffering from diabetes mellitus, under the conditions specified in ministerial decision G2/2209/1998 (B’ 314),
e) for students suffering from thalassemia or sickle cell anemia and needing blood transfusion in a specialized medical institution as well as for those suffering from hemophilia.
In each of the above cases, parents/guardians/those exercising care of students or themselves, if adults, must:
- i) Inform the School Administration about the specific case of the health problem.
- ii) Submit with their application to the School Administration a recent relevant medical opinion or discharge from a Public Hospital, bearing the stamp of a Coordinator/Director of a National Health System (ESY) Clinic or legally acting Coordinator/Director of an ESY Clinic or Director of a University Clinic or from a Public Health Center in the student’s area, bearing the stamp of the Center Director or documents from a Private Hospital bearing the signature and stamp of the attending physician and Administrative Director of the private Clinic.
- Recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log), but absences of students up to twenty (20) days for the entire academic year due to serious and urgent cases requiring a long recovery period, within Greece or in foreign countries, are not counted such as:
a) emergency and urgent cases requiring immediate surgical intervention and home care as appropriate following relevant hospital opinion,
b) emergency and urgent cases requiring immediate hospital care and home care as appropriate following relevant hospital opinion,
c) initial or continued treatments for epidemics or chronic conditions or diseases requiring continuous hospital care or repeated hospital visits and home stay as appropriate following relevant hospital opinion.
In each of the above cases, parents/guardians/those exercising care of students or themselves, if adults, must:
- i) Inform the School Administration about the specific case of the health problem.
- ii) Submit with their application to the School Administration a recent relevant medical opinion or discharge from a Public Hospital, bearing the stamp of a Coordinator/Director of an ESY Clinic or legally acting Coordinator/Director of an ESY Clinic or Director of a University Clinic or from a Public Health Center in the student’s area, bearing the stamp of the Center Director or documents from a Private Hospital bearing the signature and stamp of the attending physician and Administrative Director of the private Clinic. In case of hospitalization in foreign countries, they must present the corresponding medical opinions and documents translated into Greek by a certified translator from the Registry of Certified Translators of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
iii) The student’s application, with all necessary documents and supporting papers per case, is submitted to the School Administration and brought to the attention of the Teaching Staff who examine the request and, if the aforementioned conditions apply, a record is compiled for each student case, which is communicated to the Secondary Education Directorate to which the school belongs.
- Recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log) but absences of students up to ten (10) days for the entire academic year due to serious and urgent cases that do not require immediate hospital care, but home care following relevant hospital opinion, are not counted.
- In each of the above cases, parents/guardians/those exercising care of students or themselves, if adults, must:
i) Inform the School Administration about the specific case of the health problem.
ii) Submit with their application to the School Administration a recent relevant medical opinion or discharge from a Public Hospital, bearing the stamp of a Coordinator/Director of an ESY Clinic or legally acting Coordinator/Director of an ESY Clinic or Director of a University Clinic or from a Public Health Center in the student’s area, bearing the stamp of the Center Director or documents from a Private Hospital bearing the signature and stamp of the attending physician and Administrative Director of the private Clinic. In case of hospitalization in foreign countries, they must present the corresponding medical opinions and documents translated into Greek by the competent Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
iii) The student’s application, with all necessary documents and supporting papers per case, is submitted to the School Administration and brought to the attention of the Teaching Staff who examine the request and, if the aforementioned conditions apply, a record is compiled for each student case, which is communicated to the Secondary Education Directorate to which the school belongs.
- By decision of the relevant Teaching Staff, absences from classes of students up to five (5) working days during periods of seasonal epidemic outbreaks are recorded but not counted, according to a relevant announcement by an official body of the Ministry of Health and YPAITHA. This decision is issued upon application and with the submission by interested parties of a recent certificate from a public or private medical institution or private doctor, certifying the type and duration of the illness.
- By decision of the relevant Teaching Staff, absences from classes of students with exceptional performance in music, dance or other fine arts are recorded but not counted, for their travel and participation in concerts, dance events or painting or sculpture exhibitions of national, pan-European or global scope for as long as required, which cannot exceed two (2) weeks. This decision is issued with the submission by interested parties of the invitation to participate from the event organizing body, as well as certification of their participation in the event.
- By decision of the relevant Teaching Staff, absences from classes are recorded but not counted for the time required, for student participation in national or international competitions conducted with YPAITHA approval.
- By decision of the relevant Teaching Staff, student absences due to their participation are recorded but not counted:
a) in school sports activities and competitions organized under YPAITHA supervision and approval.
b) Student attendance is considered adequate, even when they exceed the prescribed limit of one hundred fourteen (114) absences by up to one hundred forty (140) additional absences, provided they demonstrably participate as athlete members of Greek national teams in athletic obligations of preparation or participation in Olympic, world, European, Balkan, Mediterranean games or other athletic organizations with national teams,
c) up to one hundred twenty (120) additional absences, provided they demonstrably participate as athletes of sports federations recognized by YPAITHA in preparation squads for their selection to Greek national teams even if a National team is not formed.
d) The attendance of students who as athletes participate in national athletic competitions or international athletic organizations approved by the relevant sports federation, recognized by YPAITHA, who exceeded the prescribed absence limit, is considered adequate, even if, beyond the prescribed limit of one hundred fourteen (114) absences they have up to seventy (70) additional absences.
The Teaching Staff decision for all student obligations falling under paragraphs b), c) and d) is issued provided that interested parties submit participation invitations from the official organizing body of the competitions, as well as relevant participation certificates and for preparation obligations with the national team, the relevant participation certificate from the respective official Federation of the sport.
- Student absences due to participation in voluntary blood donation are recorded but not taken into account for attendance characterization, as follows: i) On the day of blood donation, when the student offers blood for a patient in their family environment. ii) One (1) additional day when the student, on their own initiative, comes to offer blood at a blood donation center or when the student responds to a blood donation service invitation to cover an emergency need or when participating in an organized group blood collection. It is noted that age criteria for blood donors are determined by p.d. 138/2005 (A’ 195), namely the 18th year. Blood donors aged 17 years may be accepted with a responsible declaration from parents/guardians/those exercising care.
- Recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log) but absences for participation in entrance examinations of Tertiary Education schools of the homeland, which are not included in the framework of nationwide examinations, such as the School of Fine Arts, are not counted. The Teaching Staff with recommendation from the Section Head examines case by case the absences of this category of student based on the dates shown on the following documents that the student must submit: a) certificate of submission of the student’s documents to participate in entrance examinations and b) certificate of student participation in entrance examinations.
- Recorded in the Attendance Book (absence log) but absences for the procedures of preliminary examinations (psychometric, health, athletic) are not counted, so that 3rd grade students
