ATHENS — "Ιt turns out that the government and Education Minister [Niki Kerameaus] are demonstrating an immense heedlessness on promoting actions and solutions for the protection of pupils and teachers," main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras stated on Monday at an online meeting with the Greek Teachers Federation, noting that "the schools opened in much the same state as they closed, with nothing done in the intervening period that would create a greater feeling of security".

Tsipras said that the collective conclusion that should be reached and the message that should be taken away is that the pandemic is forcing us to reconsider things we considered outdated or had neglected, such as the public arena, the National Health System and state education system".

He said that Greece was the only EU country where schools had been closed for such a long time this year and which not only reopened them in exactly the same way as they closed but "with the highest possible number of pupils in the classroom in primary schools and self tests as means of protection. While self tests were a useful tool, he added, they were entirely supplementary as they did not have high sensitivity.

On his part, the Federation's general secretary, Stavros Petrakis, said that the vaccination of teachers "was a long way from being completed and this is raising additional problems". He also noted that their aim was to prepare the ground for the smooth start of the next school year," and referred to many open issues, underlining that "distance education can't substitute for live teaching".