Xanthi Minority High School Council and Parents' Association issues a letter to the President and Prime Minister

The Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School Council and the Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School Parent-Teacher Association sent an open letter to the President and the Prime Minister about the serious problems of the school waiting for a solution.

The letter, which was published on the official social media account of the Board of Councillors, provides detailed information about the school's shift training, the building problem and the problems experienced in this process.

The open letter to President Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Mitsotakis was made public on Tuesday 28 November on the official social media account of the councillors' delegation.

The open letter is as follows:

"Ms President

Mr Prime Minister

As all the public is aware, with the start of the 2023-2024 academic year at the Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School, and while the school administration had informed the parents by e-mail and certainly also the Directorate of Secondary Education of Xanthi that this year our school will only provide education in the morning, on the day the classes started, the Directorate of Secondary Education of Xanthi ordered the continuation of the double shift education with a letter sent to the school.

Our students reacted to this incomprehensible demand of the Directorate of Secondary Education of Xanthi and their reaction was supported by their families.

Thus, the decision to boycott was taken considering the fact that in the previous years the school had only morning education activities with more students and that the negotiations of the Board of Councillors and the PTA with the Director of Secondary Education of Xanthi were fruitless.

The reasons for the boycott decision are as follows.

-Implementation of double shift training in the school.

- Unfulfilled promises to install prefabricated classrooms for the short-term solution of the school building problem.

- The demand for the state to contribute to the construction of new buildings for the definitive solution of the school building problem.

The boycott, which started on 18 September, continued until 28 September.

During this boycott, meetings were held with all authorised institutions for the solution of the problem.

At the end of all these negotiations, a solution seemed to be found by combining some classrooms and using three classrooms in the basement. Moreover, the use of these three classrooms was approved by the Director of Secondary Education of Xanthi when he came to inspect these classrooms on 13-9-2023.

However, unfortunately, with the letter sent on 28-9-2023, we were informed that our school would only be in operation in the morning for this academic year, and then, with a verbal detail explanation, the school administration was informed that the classrooms in the basement, which have always been used until now, would not be used this year, thus allowing the use of only 20 classrooms and causing overcrowded classrooms beyond their capacity.

It should be emphasised that in some public schools, classrooms in the basements of buildings are used as classrooms.

This attitude and the fact that no step has been taken in this direction until today, despite the fact that we have requested a review of this decision, which does not solve the problem but makes it more complicated, is a clear indication that we are faced with an approach that lacks goodwill.

Of course, for many years, all the relevant organisations of the minority, especially the Board of Councillors, have raised many times the problem of our school building, which was transferred from a tobacco warehouse to a school and which is far from providing modern education, and demanded that the state fulfil its obligations in this regard.

However, unfortunately, even promises of short-term solutions have not been fulfilled.

The right to education is a right of special importance among all rights. It is the duty of the state to realise the fundamental right of individuals to education in law and in practice.

Many international treaties, which our country has also signed, allow students and parents wide freedoms in terms of the education they receive. Articles 40 and 41 of the Lausanne Treaty on minorities are very clear.

The minority shall have the right to establish, manage and supervise all kinds of schools and to use its own language freely in them.

In addition, Greek citizens belonging to the minority are entitled to a share of the amounts allocated for education in the state, municipal or other budgets in the provinces and districts where they are present in significant proportions.

In line with the above mentioned, the definitive solution to this problem is possible with the construction of a new building for the Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School.

The state's good faith approach to this issue is valuable for us.

We hope that you will not withhold your support in this matter and we offer our regards.

Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School Committee

Xanthi Minority Secondary School and High School PTA"