In Greece, the state offers public pre-school and primary education for free in:

•      Nipiagogeia (pre-schools)
•      Dimotika scholeia (primary schools)

Attendance in Nipiagogeio school lasts two years. It is compulsory for 4 and 5-year-old children. From school year 2021-2022 the two-year pre-school education is implemented in all 332 municipalities of the country (Laws 3518/2006, 4521/2018, as it has been replaced by Law 4704/2020, as amended and in force). 

Attendance in dimotika scholeia lasts 6 years. It includes grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Six-year-old pupils enroll in grade 1.The Ministry of Education supervises the organisation and operation of pre-school and primary schools.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs (with municipalities operating as the relevant bodies) supervises public infant care, infant/child care and child care centres – education institutions for infants and children up to 4 years old. More information on infant care, infant/child care and child care centres are available in Chapter 4. 

After the end of primary education, pupils study in secondary education that is a separate level of education. It includes two study cycles:

•     Lower secondary education school (gymnasio).
•     Upper secondary education school (lykeio) that can be either general or vocational.

For more information, please visit Chapter 6.  

Compulsory education in Greece includes:

• The two-year compulsory attendance for 4 and 5-year-old children in nipiagogeio (pre-school).  
• The six-year attendance of pupils in dimotiko scholeio (primary school).
• The three-year attendance of students in gymnasia (lower secondary education schools).

Curricula are centrally developed and nationally implemented for all schools at all levels of Greek education.

The objectives of pre-school and primary schools

Nipiagogeio (pre-school)

Pre-school education's purpose is to help children develop physically, emotionally, mentally and socially (law 1566/1985) and in particular:

• Develop their senses and organise their actions, motor and mental ones.
• Enrich and organise their experiences from the physical and social environment and acquire the abilty to discern the relations and interactions therein.
• Develop the ability to comprehend and express themselves with symbols particularly in the fields of language, mathematics and aesthetics.
• Establish interpersonal relationships that will help them to integrate gradually and harmoniously into society.
• Develop initiatives freely and effortlessly in an organised environment and adjust in the two-way relation between individual and group.

Dimotiko scholeio (primary school)

According to law 1566/1985, primary school aims at the multifaceted mental and physical development of children.  In particular, primary school helps pupils:

• Broaden and rearrange the relations of their creative activity with the things, situations and phenomena they study.
• Build up the mechanisms that will help them assimilate knowledge, develop physically and improve their physical and mental health.
• Conquer the content of the most basic concepts and gradually acquire the ability to move from the data of the senses to abstract thinking.
• Acquire the ability to use oral and written language correctly.
• Become gradually familiar with moral, religious, national, humanitarian and other values and organise them into a value system.
• Cultivate their aesthetic judgement, so as to appreciate works of art and express themselves accordingly through their own artistic creations.

Reforms and policies

During the last school years, there are a series of reform interventions in pre-school and primary education:

A) The establishment of the two-year attendance at nipiagogeio for 4-year-old children gradually from school year 2018-2019 and fully from school year 2021-2022. The aim is:

• To meet social needs.
• To compensate for the unequal opportunities provided by the different social environments students come from.

B) The implementation of the single type of all-day pre-school education and primary school, since school year 2016-2017. This important reform introduced a new revised and enriched teaching programme on an expanded daily timetable. The aim is:

• To waive the variety of schools.
• To provide common cognitive and curricular subjects in the country's primary schools. Hence, all pupils have equal opportunities in education.

C) Moreover, in the single type of all-day pre-school and primary school, an optional all-day programme operates, subject to certain conditions.

The optional all-day school in nipiagogeio aims at fully preparing the children to enter primary school. It also meets the needs of the working parents. It strengthens the role of state care with the aim to reduce educational and social discrimination. (Law  2525/1997 and P.D. 79/2017). The optional all-day school in dimotiko scholeio aims at the pedagogical use of the time pupils spend in the afternoons at school.  Hence, it relieves the family’s financial burden. Parents do not need to search for extra educational services beyond the school environment.

D) According to law 4547/2018, the support framework for school units and educational work shifts from single-person bodies to an interactive and dynamic relationship between the school and support structures. Schools adjust their needs according to their annual planning of the educational work and ask for help by the support structures. The latter respond efficiently and at the same time reinforce reforms within their regional planning and support from the directorates of education.

Additionally, according to law 4823/2021, educational goals, pedagogical practices, examination types and formative assessment are shaped by school units and groups of schools with the co-operation of:

• Interdisciplinary Assessment, Counselling and Support Centres (KEDASY)
• Environment and Sustainability Training Centres (KEPEA)
• Regional Centres for Educational Planning (PEKES), until they are replaced by Education Consultants, Regional Education Quality Supervisors and Education Quality Supervisors.

It is anticipated that this reform will create a new dynamic in the Greek educational system.

In parallel with public pre-school and primary education, pre-schools and primary schools operate. They do not belong to the state. Natural or legal persons establish and maintain them.  More details are available in Chapter 2.4.