According to data from the Diofantos Computer Technology and Publications Institute’s MySchool tracking system, there has been a steady increase in the number of students enrolled in both private middle and high schools.
It didn’t take long for critics of the public education system to point the finger of blame at government cut backs in the education sector.
The conservative party official Maximos Harakopoulos commented that “The explosion in private school enrollment at a time when the income of the average Greek family is shrinking is evidence of the decline of public education resulting from the government’s decisions,” as ekathimerini.com reported.
Data revealed on Monday by New Democracy’s shadow minister for education, does seem to reflect that despite harder financial times; more parents are choosing to place their children in private schools with enrolled middle school students increasing from 5,912 in the 2015-16 academic year to 9,189 this year. Also private high schools saw enrollments increase from 10,921 to 12,068.
Public schools are not seeing any shortages of students, however, as their enrollment in middle schools dropped only slightly from 272,697 in 2015-16 to 271,583 this year and high schools increased enrollment from 207,718 to 210,043.
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