ATHENS — Enabling the free access of all Greek citizens to high-quality digital education services is a top priority for the government, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday, during the presentation of the Citizens Digital Academy and an online discussion with the public.

The prime minister especially emphasised the quality of digital services, stressing that the educational programmes provided by the state "must be certified, recognised and the citizens that go to the trouble of going through this process must know that it provides real added value."

He also stressed the importance of all Greek citizens acquiring the digital skills that will allow them to make use of the benefits and services of "Digital Greece", noting that this was a plan the government has discussed for some time that was finally taking on tangible form.

"What we are talking about is none other than the ability of every Greek citizen to have free access to quality digital services. I can see the numbers here and they are quite impressive: 214 educational programmes, 32 providers, 1,800 hours of – free, I emphasise – education. I imagine that this is a programme that will be reinforced as it matures and it is very important that this is also available through our central portal, gov.gr," he said.

Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, on his part, noted that the improvement of digital skills was one of the areas for which Greece was evaluated in all international digital indicators.

He said the Citizens Digital Academy was set up during the pandemic lockdown, starting with 156 classes, which have now been increased to 214 and 1,800 hours in total, including "self-diagnostic" tests where people could assess their own digital skills, from searching for something on the internet to coding.

Deputy Digital Governance Minister for Digital Strategy Grigoris Zarifopoulos, who was in charge of the team that set up the digital academy, repeated that the central goal was that no one should be left behind in the new digital age and for all citizens to boost their digital skills and make use of the digital tools that are provided.

An online discussion followed, during which the prime minister spoke with individual citizens about their experiences using the Academy and the classes that it offered, and how they hoped to use their enhanced digital skills.