The new school year is beginning with significant shortages and unresolved problems in Greece’s special education system, raising concerns among parents about whether students will have access to the support and facilities they need.
Critical vacancies remain among teachers and specialized support staff, while parents and disability advocates are also highlighting gaps in one-on-one educational support, school transportation and infrastructure.
According to Giorgos Bilis, president of the Unified Association of Parents of Children in Special Schools of Attica and the Islands, parents at several schools have already been informed about shortages in support staff and possible problems with student transportation.
Particular concern surrounds students entering a new educational level for the first time, including children beginning at special elementary schools and specialized vocational education schools.
Severe shortage of support staff
One of the most serious shortages is at the Thematic School of Advanced Vocational Training, S.A.E.K Egaleo, western Athens.
Bilis told To Vima that the school is beginning the year with only five support staff members, although 17 are required.
Support staff at the school are needed not only to assist with the educational process, but also to help students move safely, manage daily activities independently and meet basic needs.
The shortage has raised concerns about whether the school can provide adequate support for students from the first day of the school year.
Transportation is another concern. Parents of students at a Unified Special Vocational Middle and High School in Ilion, western Athens, have reportedly been told that transportation may not be secured for students enrolling at the school for the first time.
According to Bilis, existing school transportation contracts did not include the new students.
“We learned that the old contracts did not include the new students,” he said.
Parents are also raising concerns about the condition of many school buildings, which Bilis said remain unsuitable and may pose safety risks for students.
Gaps in one-on-one support
Disability advocates are also expressing serious concerns about how one-on-one educational support, known in Greece as Parallel Support, will be provided to students with disabilities and special educational needs during the new school year.
The National Confederation of Disabled People of Greece (ESAMEA) has raised concerns in a letter to Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki.
The Regional Federation of Disabled People of Western Greece and the Southern Ionian Islands has also warned that the combination of a new institutional framework and insufficient staffing could undermine students’ access to individualized support.
Under the system described by the organizations, one special education teacher may be assigned to support several students in the same classroom, despite their different and often complex needs. Disability advocates argue that this arrangement cannot adequately ensure the implementation of each student’s individualized education program.
The organizations cite elementary schools in Achaia as an example. There, 137 Parallel Support teachers are expected to be assigned, while recorded needs stand at 237, leaving a shortfall of 100 teachers. The corresponding needs in kindergartens in the region have not yet been fully recorded, they said.
“Parallel Support cannot be treated as simply filling positions or as general classroom assistance,” the organizations said. “It is a necessary measure for the equal participation of students with disabilities and/or special educational needs in school life and for safeguarding their right to quality and inclusive education.”
Athens special education school still exists only on paper
Another longstanding issue concerns the absence of a Special Vocational Education and Training Laboratory (EEEEK) in the Municipality of Athens.
Parents of students at three special elementary schools in Athens — the 6th, 9th and 10th — have written to Deputy Interior Minister Vassilis Spanakis, calling for a solution to the long-running problem of building the Athens EEEEK.
Although the need for the school has been established, the secondary special education facility still exists only “on paper,” according to the parents. Its absence means some students must attend similar facilities in other municipalities, while others face such significant access difficulties that they are effectively excluded from education.
Parents say they have been in contact with the relevant authorities since 2019 in an effort to find a solution for construction of the school.
Recent meetings have been held with the state company responsible for building infrastructure, as well as with the Education Ministry’s secretary general.
At a meeting on July 15, 2026, attended by representatives of the Education Ministry, the Municipality of Athens and government officials, the need to speed up efforts to secure funding for construction was confirmed, according to the parents.
The search for a suitable public building that could temporarily house the school until construction is completed was also discussed.
A further step came on August 5, when the Education Ministry’s competent department sent the state company an indicative building program for the new school facility. According to the parents, this could allow the necessary technical studies to proceed.
Meanwhile, a report is pending from a Suitability and Necessity Committee established by the Municipality of Athens on June 24.
Parents seek temporary solution
Despite progress toward construction, parents say the need for temporary accommodation remains urgent.
Efforts to find a suitable property have so far failed, and they are asking the central government to help identify available public buildings that could be adapted to temporarily accommodate the school.
The absence of an EEEEK in the Municipality of Athens is already affecting students, according to the parents. Some have to attend equivalent facilities in other municipalities that are already under pressure, requiring them to travel long distances every day.
For other students, the difficulties involved in reaching an appropriate school are so significant that they effectively result in exclusion from education.
In their letter to the deputy interior minister, the parents are calling for immediate coordination to finalize funding for construction of the Athens EEEEK on a plot on Lampsa Street in Ampelokipoi, as well as assistance in finding a suitable public building for temporary accommodation.
“The Athens EEEEK cannot remain a case that is constantly postponed. Our children’s needs cannot be postponed,” the parents wrote, calling for concrete decisions and clear timelines.
They said every new school year without a permanent solution prolongs the educational exclusion of students with disabilities and deprives their families of access to an appropriate educational facility close to home
