The Greek Ministry of Education, according to the Government Gazette, announced that it temporarily shut down 12 Muslim minority schools in Western Thrace as part of the financial austerity measures taken at educational facilities as well as on the grounds of insufficient number of students.
Among the 12 schools whose activities were suspended by the Greek Ministry of Education, seven are in Xanthi, four in Rodop and one in Evros.
Since 2011, Greece was forced to proceed in spending cuts on education by adopting a “unification of schools” program. Because of the austerity measures, the number of schools in Greece was decreased from 1,933 to 877, and 14 minority schools in Western Thrace were shut down permanently.
However, the Ministry of Education argues over this issue that the general principles of the minority schools in Thrace will not be affected and that they have taken into serious account their particularities as well as their education quality, CNNTurk reported.
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