About a year ago, the Liougaki family faced a big dilemma as two of the family’s three children, Kelly and Nikos, will graduate from elementary school in June 2022 and will have to continue their education through high school.

However, in Gavdos, where the children were born and raised, there is no secondary school. So the family had only one choice. Move to Crete, to any prefecture you want, so that the kids can go to high school.

But the choice was not easy, not only from an emotional point of view, but also from a practical one. The father of the family works as a farmer on the island, so the family will not be able to earn a living if they move.

Their final decision was to stay on the island and support their country. Unfortunately, but with a price.

Kelly and Nikos stayed in the same class due to absences.

“We as a family decided not to be separated and decided to stay in Gavdos and support the island, despite the fact that there is no high school there. However, no solution was found to our problem, as a result of which my children, Kelly and Nikos, “remained” in the same class due to absences,” explains Efi Georgaka-Luyakis, referring to “K”, which indicates that the children regularly attend classes every day with teachers who volunteered to teach them material from gymnasium A, but they are nowhere to be seen in the system of the Ministry of Education, since basically they don’t go to school.

RS. Georgaka-Luyaki noted that he did his best to find an intermediate solution.

“We have proposed various solutions, such as having the children attend online courses at Paleochora High School in Crete, or taking lessons at home and taking exams at the end on all the material, but none of these have been accepted,” he notes. .

When asked if she received a response from the authorities as to why no solution was found, she told us that the response from the Ministry of Education was that the municipality had not taken the correct action to operate the secondary school department, which was the case earlier on the island , however, the mayor emphasizes that this issue is entirely the responsibility of the ministry.

“I intend to try to speak to the prime minister tomorrow and raise this issue with him to see if a solution can be found,” she said, stressing that “the children want to stay here and they really like it.”

“They are having a great time on the island. They have their own classes, in the summer they make new acquaintances with tourists and take lessons from professors who deal exclusively with them, ”he tells K.

Ministry of Education: No discrimination

The general secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alexandros Koptsis, answered “K” on this matter, indicating that the Ministry has given the family the opportunity to study at any school in Crete they want. However, the proposals of the Minister of Education actually pushed the family to live on different islands.

“We offered to help the mother with an amount and cover the transport so that she could travel back and forth from Crete to Gavdos. Unfortunately, there is no other possible solution, as the law only allows distance learning in special circumstances, such as a pandemic,” said Mr. Koptsis, adding that the Ministry of Education did everything it could, based on the specific legal framework. but beyond that there can be no discrimination in the way the schools on the uninhabited islands operate.

Kindergarten teacher Gavdou: I’m sad that the kindergarten will be closed

For her part, the only teacher on the island, Maria Tsavitaroglu, who takes care of two children in a kindergarten, is upset that the kindergarten will be closed next year.

“I have two students. Both are excellent. In fact, one of my students is the brother of Kelly and Nikos. Kindergarten first opened last year after five years, and elementary school closed for the first time this year after six years of operation,” – says Ms. Tsavitaroglu, pointing out that if additional residents do not arrive on the island, then everything suggests that in a few years not a single school level will function.

“I am very sad that the kindergarten will be closed. If it remained open, one would like to stay in Gavdos for many years, although everyday life here is not easy. Believe me, although I have been a teacher for 26 years and have visited many places, Gavdos is a special place of unique beauty,” she says.

Although Ms. Tsavitaroglu is not in Gavdos this time due to holidays, she says that she will tell the Prime Minister, who is due to visit the island tomorrow for the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I would tell him that families should be encouraged to come and stay in Gavdos. More people have to come and live on the island, otherwise it will disappear. Incentives are needed, as there is neither housing nor work in Gavdos, so it is extremely difficult for someone to come and live here on their own initiative,” he stressed.

Mayor Gavdu: Demography is a big problem

Mayor Lilian Stefanaki also spoke to K about the demographic challenge facing Gavdos, stressing that the 200 or so residents of Gavdos are worried and worried about its future.

“Research and proposals need to be made on how Gavdos can develop in the coming years. It is an island with an important geographical position and a great history, and it is sad that at the moment neither a primary school nor a secondary school is functioning,” said the mayor of Gavdos, adding that the island can be a model of sustainable development, like Halki.

“Green development on the island is a one-way street and I think a solution could well be found to follow the example of Halka and Astypalea. Perhaps it was also Gavdos’ way to increase its population so that children’s voices and laughter could be heard again in the destroyed schoolyard,” he said characteristically.

As for the questions she will ask Mr. Mitsotakis tomorrow, Stefanaki mentioned that the prime minister has been visiting the island for 26 years, so there are enough questions to be answered.

To a related question about whether she herself would raise the issue of the work of the gymnasium with the Prime Minister, her answer to “K” was positive.