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Education ministers meet with private school teachers, who call meeting 'historic'

Education ministers meet with private school teachers, who call meeting 'historic'

Private schools will return to the jurisdiction of the ministry of education instead of the ministry of labour, Education Minister Aristidis Baltas told the private school teachers national federation (OIELE) on Thursday.

The decision to place private schools under the ministry of labour during the previous minister's tenure (Constantine Arvanitopoulos') is "weird and paranoid," said Baltas, who also said that both public and private schools should compete in a friendly manner, thus raising the quality of education for all.

Alternate Education Minister Tasos Kourakis said among other things that the ministry will be thorough in its review of operation licences for private schools and any type of preparatory schools for higher education (frontistiria).

OIELE president Michalis Kouroutos said the meeting was "historic" as it was the first time since the tenure of Marietta Giannakou-Koutsikou as education minister (2004-2010) "that an honest and open dialogue with private school teachers begins."