Two years ago, Christiana lost her child’s custody because she had decided to educate her 8-year-old daughter at home. Police removed the child following an order by a prosecutor in Athens. Homeschooling is not allowed in Greece, therefore it is considered illegal. The English teacher became the first parent to lose child custody because of home schooling, media report.
The mother turned to private ANT1 TV . She said the Greek state deals with her as an “offender” and asked where was the state when she was raising the child as a single parent.
According to ANT1 report, the mother was also arrested in front of the child, last week.
The report is short and does not give further information on the legal aspect of the case.
On Thursday, a court in Athens sentenced the mother to 10 months imprisonment on a 3-year parole. The father of the child – and former partner of the mother – had reportedly filed “for abduction of the daughter.” According to Greek media, the father was against homeshooling of his now 10-year-old daughter saying that the mother had no qualification for it. The custody was given to the father.
However, what is highly interesting is that there are apparently more parents who give their children education at home, although it is not legal.
All three parents all criticize the Greek school system.
A mother had told ANT1 in October 2015, that the family had moved to a rural area so to be able to offer home schooling to the children. Another mother said her son was able to ‘read and write at the age of 4’ and the school system was not appropriate for him. The boy, a teenager in 2015, said he felt comfortable with the home schooling.
Christiana told media that she wanted a more “creative schooling procedure for her child.” She says she cannot understand that she is doing something “illegal” when homeschooling is legal in the European Union.
Back in 2015, Greek media had reported that Christiana was going to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Public education in Greece is mandatory until the age of 15, without known exceptions.
KTG understands that there is no common EU policy on homeschooling.
PS if homeschooling is not legal, how can these children move forwards in terms of education in their life? Just wondering.
An entire corrupt system drunk on power.. but remember they’re here doing us a favor to protect us!
I some parents think that the Greek education system is not effective then why don’t they school their children at home AFTER they have been to the public school? It doesn’t have to be either/or it could also be AND.