A deeply troubling incident outside a kindergarten in Ano Liosia, western Attica, on the morning of Monday, September 28, has sparked a fierce backlash. It led to the immediate removal of the teacher involved and ended in a violent attack against her.
The episode came to light through a video posted on social media, which appears to show the kindergarten’s head teacher addressing the young children in a harsh tone over damage to the schoolyard. When bystanders asked her to explain herself, she reportedly reacted angrily.
After the video spread online, the Ministry of Education moved swiftly to transfer the teacher out of the school, according to the relevant education authorities. The matter did not end there. Shortly afterwards, the head teacher was allegedly physically assaulted by people who had gathered on school grounds, under circumstances that are now being investigated.
According to reports, the assailants were the parents of the children she had earlier berated and accused of damaging school property.
The teacher was taken to hospital by ambulance after the attack. No further details about her condition have been released so far.
Dionysios Anastasopoulos, Regional Director of Primary and Secondary Education for Attica, has ordered a sworn administrative inquiry into the incident.
In a statement, he said that anyone who enters a primary or secondary school and disrupts its operation in any way, whether through insults, threats or shouting, faces a prison sentence of at least one year and a fine. Where such conduct involves violence, the law provides for a prison term of at least two years, also with a fine.
He added that police and prosecutors have already been mobilised to apply the expedited in flagrante procedure, so that those responsible are held fully accountable under criminal law.
