Pierrakakis responded to the leader of the official opposition Stefanos Kasselakis andto the criticisms  that Kyriakos Mitsotakis not “keeping his promise for distance learning for high school students from the island of Gavdos.”

In his post, the Minister of Education emphasised that “Educational issues are too serious to be the subject of pre-election populism via social media.

such statements require a sense of responsibility,” he stressed.

“The solution chosen for the two students in Gavdos was transitional. Immediately after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visited the remote island in January 2023, there was mobilisation by the to ensure that the children would enroll in a school unit and to continue to next grade would without trouble,” Mr. Pierrakakis explained in a post.

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In September 2024, students from the most remote regional areas will be able to have access to a comprehensive digital school. The preparation of this initiative by the Ministry of Education, Religion, and Sports is nearing completion. Students will be taught by teachers all subjects, as reflected in the timetable of each school. This initiative comes in addition to digital supplementary teaching, which begins in a few weeks for high school students in modern Greek and mathematics.

In talks with the family that took place immediately after the visit, the solution was given for the students to proceed with private tutoring under the supervision of the Paliochora Gymnasium in Crete, where they will sit their exams. Teachers from the school came into contact to provide relevant guidance.

The solution to be implemented from this September aims to support these regional areas, their children, and their families. With actions and not words. And certainly not with staged video clips.”

Statements from Kasselakis:

“A year ago, Kyriakos Mitsotakis publicly promised residents of Gavdos that the two high school students on the island would have distance learning, so that they could receive from the State the same education,” the president of SYRIZA had stated in a post on social media.

“I visited Gavdos and Efi Georgaka, the mother of 14-year-old Nikola and 13-year-old Kelli, to see if the Prime Minister kept his promise. You can imagine the result.”