Why are we still talking about the so-called “perpetual” students? Is it because they burden the administrative function? Is it because they burden the performance of our universities in international rankings, since the percentage of graduates is low, and the ratio of teachers to students is misleading? They are also there, but they are secondary. We discuss why the numbers are so big and why those big numbers say a lot about our universities, high schools and our education in general. What do they reveal? That our education does not focus on pupils and students, their progress is not concerned with it. It seems that educational institutions have been usurped by those who promote them. They are interested in institutions to exist as corpses in order to perpetuate their exploitation in their interests. Pupils and students are almost a pretext for the existence of themselves. It is obvious that conscientious teachers teach at all levels of education, who honor their role and care about their pupils and students. Many owe their inspiration, formation and development to him. But there are others: those who will read a textbook and recite it boringly in class, those who look for excuses not to do their homework, those who are late, who are absent, who give assignments that they never correct and for which they evaluate . excellent ones, those who send others to teach instead of themselves because they have other duties or because they build a court with teachers dependent on them, whom they promise to restore in the future, since they consider the institutions their property. There are those who pander to students and student activists to keep their heads calm.

The victims of this situation are the “eternal students”. Since the beginning of high school, the only clear and visible prospect is a university with Panhellenic examinations. The gymnasium, as an institution, is crushed on this altar, and almost all the students crowd into the entrances, which multiply not from care, but from indifference to the students. When you establish, in the middle of the night, with amendments, schools and faculties scattered throughout the statesmen of the cities, without staff, without a completed program, without offices, what interest do you show in the education of those who find themselves there without career guidance, without supplies? You have other goals. What inspiration will these children get to love a science subject, to explore their tendencies, to talk to others, professors and students who do similar or different things, when universities are examination centers, when campuses are so repulsive and inhospitable; Those who are determined and can count on themselves will either simply complete their studies or, if they are lucky, find support and take advantage of everything that Greek educational institutions have to offer. The rest, “eternal”, will be left behind. As temporary institutions multiply, so do “permanent” students.

Pupils and students for some are almost a reason for existence.

What needs to be done? Those who really want to finish need to be motivated and taken care of. But, above all, the state, parties and university authorities must solve problems face to face. They should not postpone them to the future, acting as agents of processing. To seriously study the phenomenon of “eternal students”, to evaluate structures and faces not by what they see, but by the consequences that changes will bring. Be ready, if necessary, to face inertia, opacity, worthlessness.

Ms. Vaso Kinti is Professor of Philosophy at EKPA.