What does a minister do,when a pupil bursts into tears in front of him, overwhelmed by the shortages in education? He gives a pat on the shoulder and most probably also wishes ‘good luck’. Or something like that. Because in Greece of Troika and lenders, there is not much a minister can do except a pat on the shoulder and a ribbon inauguration cut – a rare phenomenon, nowadays.
A pupil burst into tears in front of deputy Minister for Infrastructure , Transport and Networks, Michalis Papadopoulos. The pupil whose name was not revealed, took the chance during an inauguration ceremony of a training teachers project to express her concerns and fears for the poor education provided in schools of austerity.
She approached the minister when he moved to talked to protesting teachers in ‘mobility scheme’ and parents.
She described the situation in her school, complaining about the absence of teachers in core subjects. the young girl burst into tears. The jovial minister gave her a pat of comfort on the shoulder and rushed to continue his schedule. Probably a lunch with local authorities in a local taverna to boost relationships with the local authorities and interest groups included.
Video: source: kozanimedia.gr
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protesters chanting old slogan “Bread-Education-Freedom”
The incident took place during the inauguration ceremony of ASPETE Macedonia, the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, a Greek University which specializes in training teachers.
At the same time, tension is high at two universities in Athens, after administrative employees of two Athens universities decided to prolong their strike action into an 11th week, continuing their protest against a government overhaul of the civil service, while rifts appeared between the management and academic leadership of Athens University. (more in ekathimerini)
PS I did not know we had a minister called Michalis Papadopoulos. My unawareness of this important fact is probably based on this other fact, that is that I don’t deal with infrastructure and transport, while I’m yet struggling for networking 🙂
