The government, with just slightly more than a month to go before snap elections, on Tuesday announced the hiring of 10,500 teachers for public schools in the country of roughly 11 million residents.
An announcement prominently featuring a handful of ministers as signatories of the decision, taken by the Cabinet, notes that 5,250 teachers will be hired for the 2020-21 school year, followed by another 5,250 for the 2021-22 school year.
The new hirings are slated to cover what the relevant ministry calls vacant spots the primary and secondary education sectors.
The mass hirings will, according to the decision, will come via a process undertaken by the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), an independent commission tasked with the selection of personnel for tenured and contract positions in the Greek public sector. Previous such hirings for the public education system were achieved via a nationwide exam of eligible graduates.
In an immediate response, a main opposition New Democracy (ND) party sector head warned that any “illegal hiring” outside the ASEP framework, as well as evaluations of top public sector officials or any other intervention, between June 3 and up until the (July 7) election, will be reviewed, “both in terms of its legality and its expediency”.
