The enrollment process for students in the all-day elementary school program is changing, just one week after the start of the school year. According to a directive sent to education authorities and schools, signed by the general secretary of the Ministry of Education, Ioannis Papadomarkakis, parents must now submit documentation proving their need for all-day school services.
Read: Schools: When does all-day programs start in kindergartens and elementary schools
All-day school: Priority families identified
According to the directive, the Ministry of Education’s general secretary states that school principals must give priority to:
- families where both parents or guardians are employed, as well as single-parent families,
- cases where one parent is employed and the other is unemployed,
- and finally, children belonging to vulnerable social groups.
Parents are now required to submit relevant documentation to school administrations, which must then redistribute students in all-day program sections – potentially leaving some children “out” of the program.
The need to address this issue arose because teacher shortages and school vacancies make it impossible to operate all-day programs at full capacity in many schools. To prevent random decisions about which all-day sections operate until staff vacancies are filled through the second phase of appointments at the end of September, this specific directive was issued.
Ministry of Education sources note that submitting documentation for all-day school enrollment was required until 2020, when related guidelines were modified due to the pandemic and all-day programs “opened up” to accommodate all children. In many cases however, while many students initially enroll, sections operate with minimal students – or not at all – when the school year begins. Now, “prioritizing needs” is deemed necessary to manage the problem and support families until the second phase of substitute teacher hiring, expected around the end of September.
Parent backlash
Parent associations express concern that the ministry’s goal is to “cut” sections and avoid further appointments, while denouncing attempts to exclude students from all-day programs. They also emphasize the disruption to family planning, as parents need to find alternative solutions for their children while the school year has already begun.
It should be noted that students enrolled in elementary school all-day programs at the end of last school year based on parent declarations. At that time, schools required no additional documentation beyond the declaration, which included student information and departure time (2:55 PM, 3:50 PM, or 5:30 PM for schools operating extended all-day programs).
