Greek schools are introducing a new Ethics class for students who are exempt from Religious Education, starting with the 2026–27 school year.
The new subject will be taught in lower and upper secondary education. It will provide an alternative class during the hours normally allocated to Religious Education.
The measure follows a series of court decisions concerning the right of students who do not attend Religious Education to receive an alternative course at school.
Who Will Take the New Ethics Class?
The Ethics class is intended only for students who have been granted an exemption from Religious Education.
It does not replace Religious Education for students who continue to attend that subject. The two classes will take place at the same teaching time, with students in separate classrooms.
Schools need at least 10 exempt students in the same grade to organize the Ethics class under the new rules. If a school cannot form a group of 10 students, different arrangements apply under the ministry’s regulations.
What Will Students Study?
The Ethics curriculum goes beyond the history of philosophy.
The official curriculum includes questions about discrimination, antisemitism, technology, sexual harassment, civil disobedience and freedom of expression.
Students will also examine ethical questions related to religion, environmental issues, religious freedom and the relationship between morality and authority.
Other topics include the ethical dimensions of euthanasia and animal rights, according to the curriculum published by the Institute of Educational Policy.
The course therefore focuses on ethical questions and how students can examine them through discussion and argument.
Why Is the Alternative Course Being Introduced?
The new framework follows decisions by Greece’s Council of State concerning alternative teaching for students exempt from Religious Education.
In decisions 2417/2025 and 2418/2025, the court found that the administration had failed to complete the necessary steps to ensure the implementation of an alternative course for students who wished to take one.
The court referred to constitutional and European human-rights provisions concerning education and freedom of religion and belief.
The government subsequently issued the regulations governing how the Ethics class will operate from the 2026–27 school year.
A New Alternative Within the School Timetable
The introduction of Ethics creates a formal alternative for students who do not attend Religious Education.
The new course will run within the school timetable rather than leaving exempt students without a corresponding lesson.
Its curriculum covers a wide range of ethical questions, from social discrimination and technology to freedom, religion and human rights.
For the 2026–27 school year, the new system marks the start of the organized teaching of Ethics as an alternative course for exempt students in Greek secondary education.
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