Kyriakos Mitsotakis spent Friday morning at the 2nd Primary School of Ano Liosia, a suburb in Athens, where students began the new academic year in newly renovated classrooms. The school’s director gave the prime minister a tour of the building, with the renovation work having been completed only the day before.
The Ano Liosia school is one of 240 nationwide that have been fully rebuilt through a donation from the Hellenic Bank Association, under a program named after Marietta Giannakou, a former Greek education minister. Mitsotakis said the total number of renovated schools, including those completed last year, is nearing 700, and that the government expects to have renovated 1,000 schools by this time next year.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the blessing ceremony marking the start of the school year at the 2nd Primary School of Ano Liosia, Friday, September 11, 2026. (Tatiana Bolari/Eurokinissi)
“You deserve the best. You deserve a fully renovated school, accessible, beautiful, safe, with good athletic facilities,” Mitsotakis told the students, before wishing them, their parents and their teachers a good school year and urging the children to listen to their teachers and parents.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the blessing ceremony marking the start of the school year at the 2nd Primary School of Ano Liosia, Friday, September 11, 2026. (Tatiana Bolari/Eurokinissi)
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis marked the day in Thessaloniki, ahead of an address he is due to give in the city on Saturday. Visiting the 34th Primary School of Thessaloniki for the third year running, he pointed to enrollment numbers at the school itself, which has capacity for 120 students but has seen a 10 percent drop in registrations, to argue that Greece’s demographic decline deserves attention beyond the start of each school year. He called for stronger support for public education and for families, and said the government should treat the country’s shrinking birth rate, particularly in Greece’s border regions, as a national priority rather than a partisan issue.
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis attends the start of the school year ceremony at the 34th Primary School of Thessaloniki, Friday, September 11, 2026. (VasilisVerveridis/Motion Team)
Communist Party general secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas, visiting a school in Malesina, wished students and teachers well but said the new year is starting with shortages, particularly in special education.
SYRIZA parliamentary group leader Rena Dourou used a written message invoking the 18th century revolutionary Rigas Feraios to accuse the government of treating education as a commodity, calling instead for strong, public and inclusive schooling.
