Dimitris Koutsoumbas, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), attended the start of the school year on Thursday at the traditional blessing ceremony held at the 1st Primary School of Malesina, before moving on to similar ceremonies at the 2nd Primary School of Malesina and the 2nd Laboratory for Special Vocational Education of Fthiotida. He was accompanied by Central Committee members Kostas Basdekis and Panagiotis Politis.
Speaking to teachers, parents and students at the 1st Primary School, Koutsoumbas wished them a good school year and said he sent his wishes for strength and health first of all to the children, particularly the first-graders attending their first day and taking part in the blessing.
He urged the students to support one another, cooperate and listen to their teachers, who he said were fighting a huge battle to educate them under genuinely difficult conditions. He also asked them to honour their parents, who he said were doing everything possible for their present and future.
Koutsoumbas told the students to stand by one another, show solidarity, love and help each other, and combine teamwork with the personal effort each of them would need to put into their education. He asked them to remember the words of the educator Dimitris Glinos, urging them to study and keep the eyes of their soul awake in life.
Message to teachers and parents
He also wished strength to teachers and strength and health to parents, saying parents should take part in the educational process in cooperation with schools and teachers, while also raising their concerns with the party and with local authorities and pressing the state for their rights.
He said the party, in turn, would keep working to make schools better and fit for the 21st century, so that children could become worthy successors to the struggles of the Greek people, singling out workers at the LARKO plant who had been laid off in the area.
Koutsoumbas closed his remarks by inviting parents to a KKE event in Larymna marking two years since the closure of LARKO, where he said discussions would continue that evening on the wider problems facing education, health and jobs in the area. He thanked everyone and wished them strength and health.
Shortages and cost of living
At the end of his visit to the 1st Primary School, Koutsoumbas issued a statement wishing strength and health to students, teachers, kindergarten teachers and parents so they could press for their rights. He said that, once again this year, schools across the country were starting the year with severe shortages of teachers and kindergarten staff, particularly in special education.
He pointed to what he described as huge problems with teacher pay amid high living costs, and said the 13th and 14th month salary and pension payments for public sector workers had still not been restored. He also referred to what he called military preparations under way around Greece, saying children were growing up in a society that produces and encourages youth delinquency, with the internet and multiple addictions among the challenges. He said this was a huge battle that parents, students, teachers and kindergarten staff needed to fight together, calling it a battle for the present and future of Greek children.
LARKO closure and Malesina villages
Koutsoumbas then attended the blessing ceremony at the 2nd Primary School of Malesina and the 2nd Laboratory for Special Vocational Education of Fthiotida, where he again wished teachers, parents and students a good year. He said people were living through genuinely difficult times for working families, and pointed to the closure of the large LARKO plant in the area, which he said had left hundreds of workers laid off.
He said the KKE stood alongside those workers in Malesina and in the surrounding villages, so that people could remain in the area, rebuild and support its present and future. LARKO is a Greek state-linked ferronickel producer that has faced long-running financial difficulties, culminating in job losses that Koutsoumbas referenced throughout his visit.
Koutsoumbas addressed students, teachers and parents separately, thanking parents in particular on behalf of the KKE for their efforts, noting that the Laboratory for Special Vocational Education had been built so that children in the area would not have to move elsewhere for schooling, which he described as an achievement won by the local community.
