According to a survey conducted by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), Greece’s biggest private labor union, Greek families spend 5 billion euros per year on their children’s education.
Most Greek children go to public schools and universities, that’s why this sum of expenses may seem exaggerated at first. But, as is typical in Greece, public sector has many demands, and thus, students’ daily routine includes 7 hours at school and approximately 4-5 hours of private lessons.
Kathimerini newspaper reports that parents spend 2 billion euros on private lessons, language classes, music schools and sports federations each year, while they pay another 3.2 billion on university fees and the students’ daily expenses.
Head of the research team Nikos Paizis told the paper that Greek parents have many difficulties to overcome and the education expenses of their children is a great burden for them. “They try to offer them the best possible future despite the difficulties,” he continues.
The research team based its conclusion on 2008 data. Greek parents paid 775 million euros for primary school education, two billion for high school students. Out of this, about 1.5 billion goes to private lessons of every kind. But their ordeal does not come to an end after their kids’ high school graduation. They pay quite the same amount – 1.5 billion euros – on rent, bills and daily costs.
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