28.2.13
The Minister of Education Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos was invited at the “Education and Innovation in the 21st Century” conference organized by the Economist, Microsoft Hellas and the British Council at the Athens Concert Hall, where he expressed his intention to “connect the country’s university map to the country’s growth map”.
While referring to the controversial “Athina” plan, the Minister mentioned that older, hastily-prepared policies, which were based upon union relationships, lead to the increase of university departments from 300 during the 1990s to over 500 today. Despite the obvious hurdles, the Minister believed that local communities “must change their attitude”.
Mr. Arvanitopoulos considers evaluation of structures, procedures and human resources to be of the “utmost priority” regarding all political practices of his ministry, explaining that the purpose of evaluation is to locate weaknesses and offer educators the motives “to continue the struggle for self-improvement”.
The Minister also referred to the issue of treatment offered to the disabled, which he admitted was “ages behind”, while stressing the need to upgrade current structures. He also announced his intention to submit a bill regarding bilingual schools for expatriates.
