ATHENS – Newly assigned teachers in Greece don’t like the practice of sending the newest of them to remote villages and islands for two years but their demand for a one-year posting was rejectred by the Education Ministry.

Some 2,800 of them asked for earlier transfers but ministry officials said the teachers could have asked for their preferences, most wanting to be close to their homes, but the final choice isn’t up to them where to to.

In their petition, said Kathimerini, the teachers cited rising prices and the expense of having to pay rent and travel costs, which would be negated for some who could live with their families for an assignement near their homes.

But the ministry said accepting the demand would leave many schools in faraway places without teachers who are posted similarly to new doctors in the public sector used to provide medical services to areas that wouldn’t have any.