Primary Education

In Greece, the state offers public pre-primary and primary education  for free in:

•      Nipiagogeia (pre-primary schools)
•      Dimotika scholeia (primary schools).

Attendance in Nipiagogeio school lasts two years. Law 4521/2018 establishes the two-year compulsory pre-primary school for 4-year-old children from school year 2018-2019. This compulsory attendance is being gradually implemented within a three-year period. For 5-year-old children attendance is compulsory (Law 3518/2006) and for 4-year-old children it becomes gradually compulsory. During school year 2020-2021 the two-year preprimary education is being implemented in 327 municipalities of the country, out of the 332 municipalities in sum (Law 4521/2018, as it has been replaced by article 34 of Law 4704/2020 and as it is in force). The five remaining municipalities will implement the two-year preprimary education within the next school year (2021-2022). 

Attendance in dimotika scholeia lasts 6 years. It includes grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Six-year-old pupils enroll in grade 1.The Ministry of Education supervises the organisation and operation of pre-primary schools and primary schools. Infant and child centres – education areas for children up to 4 years old- are mainly overseen by the Ministry of Interior Affairs (with municipalities operating as the relevant bodies) and by other bodies as well. More information on infant and child centres are available in Chapter 4. 

After the end of primary education, pupils study in secondary education that is a separate level of education. It includes two study cycles:

•     Lower secondary education school (gymnasio).
•     Upper secondary education school (lykeio) that can be either general or vocational.

For more information, please visit Chapter 6.

Compulsory education in Greece includes:

• The two-year compulsory attendance for 4 and 5 year old children in nipiagogeio (pre-primary school).  
• Six-year attendance of pupils in dimotiko scholeio (primary school).
• Three-year attendance of students in gymnasia (lower secondary education schools).

Curricula are centrally developed and nationally implemented for all schools at all levels of Greek education.

The objectives of pre-primary and primary schools

Nipiagogeio (pre-primary school)

Pre-primary school's purpose, as stipulated in the framework law 1566/1985, is to help children develop physically, emotionally, mentally and socially and in particular:

•     Develop their senses and organise their actions, motor and mental ones.
•     Enrich and organise their experiences from the physical and social environment and  acquire the skill to differentiate the relations and their interactions therein.
•     Develop the ability to comprehend and express themselves with symbols and particularly in the fields of language, mathematics and aesthetics.
•     Forge interpersonal relations boosting their gradual and harmonious social inclusion.
•     Develop initiatives freely and effortlessly in an organised environment and adjust in the two-way relation between an individual and a group.  law 1566/1985

Dimotiko scholeio (primary school)

According to law 1566/1985, primary school aims at the multifaceted intellectual and physical development of children.  In particular, primary school helps pupils:

•     Broaden and rearrange the relationship between creative activity and things, conditions and phenomena under study.
•     Build up mechanisms helping them to assimilate knowledge, develop physically, improve their physical and mental health.
•     Conquer the content of the most basic concepts and gradually acquire the ability to ascend from sense data to the sphere of abstract thinking.
•     Attain the ability to use correct oral and writing skills.
•     Familiarise themselves with moral, religious, national, humanitarian and other values and organise them into a system of values.
•     Cultivate their aesthetic criterion, so as to appreciate works of art and express. themselves accordingly, through their own artistic creations.

Reforms and policies

During the last school years, there are a series of reform interventions in pre-primary and primary schools:

A) The establishment of the two-year attendance at nipiagogeio for 4-year-old children gradually from school year 2018-2019. The aim is:

• To meet social needs.
• To provide countervailing measures on unequal opportunities that the different social environments of students provide.

B) The implementation of the single type of all-day pre-primary and primary school, since school year 2016-2017. This important reform introduced a new revised and enriched teaching programme on an expanded daily timetable. The aim is:

•     To waive the variety of schools
•     To provide common subject modules in all primary schools of the country.  Hence, all pupils have equal opportunities in education.

C) Moreover, in the single type of all-day pre-primary and primary school, an optional all-day programme operates, subject to certain conditions.

The optional all-day school in nipiagogeio aims at the full preparation of children to enter primary school. It also meets the needs of the working parents.  It strengthens the role of state concern with the aim to reduce educational and social discrimination. (Law  2525/1997 και P.D. 79/2017).

The optional all-day school in dimotiko scholeio aims at the pedagogical use of the time pupils spend in the afternoons at school.  Hence, it reduces the family’s financial burden. Parents do not need to search for extra educational services beyond the school environment.

D) According to law 4547/2018, the support structure of school units and educational work moved towards an interactive and dynamic relationship between the school and support structures.

Schools adjust their needs according to their annual planning of educational work and ask for help by the support structures. The latter respond efficiently and at the same time support reforms within their regional structure of planning and support from the directorates of education.

Educational goals, pedagogical practices, types of assessment and formative assessment are shaped by school units and groups of schools with the co-operation of:

•     Educational and Counselling Centres (KESY)
•     Environmental Education Centres (KPE)
•     Regional Centres for Educational Planning (PEKES).

It is anticipated that this reform will create a new dynamic in the Greek educational system.

In parallel with public primary education, primary education private schools operate. The latter do not belong to the state but are established and maintained by natural or legal persons. More details are available in Chapter 2.4.