A mother in Oreokastro claims that she voted against blocking refugee children from attending school. Proving that not everyone in town stands behind the two parents associations that have issued statements saying that they will not accept the migrant and refugee children living in the area in their schools, she posted on her Facebook page that the decision is not unanimous.
“The behavior of the Parents Association was expected, since it was last year that they refused to offer help to the refugee children, because they were not Greek. Let’s hope that if our children will ever need help, they will treat them with more humanity”
Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office in Thessaloniki ordered an investigation on Wednesday into the two parents associations’ stance and the mayor of Oreokastro’s statements to determine whether their actions can be prosecuted under a law that prohibits hate speech and the incitement of racist violence.

Fotini Kitsiou, president of the Paleokastro School’s Parents Association, had claimed that the parents were primarily concerned about health: “These children have not been vaccinated and we are worried about diseases.” If refugee children met health and vaccination standards, she added, the parents would not have a problem with them attending school.
Giving an answer to those claims, Doctors of The World President Nikitas Kanakis posted on Facebook that the children have been vaccinated and taken care of by doctors who visited them 6 times a week and that poor kids are not sick. “We have to defend their right to proper education”, he wrote.
Education Minister Nikos Filis had said that the government’s integration plan already addresses health concerns and includes an immunization program. “We have taken all necessary measures,” he affirmed in a radio interview. “Refugee children will be received at schools, will be vaccinated and will have their teachers. We want them to play with the Greek children and they will gradually be introduced in classrooms. I don’t understand why parents would not accept these children at school.”