The Greek island teacher who goes to school by dinghy

When 27-year-old Despina Anthoulaki applied last summer for the position of substitute teacher, she could not imagine that this year she would teach the only class in a tiny school, and that she would have to go to work each day by dinghy.

And not only that. From the bustling school in Rethymnon where she worked last year, the tiny school on Telendos Island in the Dodecanese archipelago has only one class with five students — whose numbers soon will be reduced to four.

Guided by her love for teaching, Anthoulaki left Crete and moved to Kalymnos, where she settled into her new life. But from there she must go by boat 1km (o.6 miles) every day to go to the small school on Telendos Island.

But one of the things that make her daily hardships all worthwhile is when her students wait for her each day at the island’s port to walk to school all together to begin classes.

“It’s very different from the school I taught last year, it’s an unprecedented experience, though at first, I admit that I found it difficult. This is my second year working as a teacher. Last year I was in a huge school in Rethymnon with 220 children and this year I found myself in a school that has only four! ” Anthoulaki told interviewers from the dimokratiki.gr news website.

As she explained, after her application was approved she first moved to Kalymnos, and then her placement at the Telendos school followed soon after.

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