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The government is seriously considering the possibility of civil mobilisation of teachers, in order to ensure the smooth start of the school year on 11 September.

So far, Education Minister Konstantinos Avranitopoulos has been maintaining a calm tone, but in all his public appearances he has been assuring that the government will protect at any cost students and their parents, who have already made their plans for the new school year.

Members of the government, who have recently spoken to the Prime Minister, did not reject the probability of civil mobilisation of teachers, and reminded that the Ministry of Education did this in May in order to ensure the conduct of entrance exams.

In a statement, Deputy Education Minister Simeon Kedikoglou confirmed that this "weapon" exists in the "arsenal" of the government, adding that the possibility of civil mobilisation is not currently being discussed.

Indeed, government sources indicated that final decisions will be made and announced next week, following meetings of local unions of workers in secondary education.

The government is waiting to see if teachers will generally follow the "hard line" of unions, since it is a general belief of the government that the position of the Federation of teachers in secondary education does not express the opinion of the majority of teachers.

Deputy Education Minister Simeon Kedikoglou also expressed the view that teachers will follow the Federation of teachers in secondary education in the event that it announces a strike, since the Federation does not represent the average teacher, and furthermore, there are disagreements between its members.

He added that the Federation is creating an artificial polarisation and accused SYRIZA of using students in order to cause chaos in schools.

Yesterday, the Federation of teachers in secondary education held its first exploratory meeting in connection with protests at the beginning of the school year, but the decision will probably be made on Thursday at a meeting of the 11-member Council of the Federation.

Yesterday, unionists failed to agree on a final proposal, since the "hard line" is only supported by two fractions (Radical Left SYRIZA and the left movement ANDARSIYA), which, however, do not have a majority, while the others (the communist union PAME, the independent movement of teachers DAKE and the trade union movement of teachers PASC) are maintaining a more moderate position. In particular, the three members of the Board of SYRIZA are suggesting five-day repeated strikes, the two members of ANDARSIYA are for a continuous strike, the two members of PAME and the three members of the DAKE are suggesting a 48-hour strike and the member of the Board of PASC - two 48 hourly strikes.

In all cases, unionists will submit suggestions for protests on Thursday, but the decision will be made by local unions of workers in secondary education before schools open on 11 September.

However, scepticism reigns among teachers, since they fear civil mobilisation and remember the fiasco in May, and they will not be able to withstand a continuous strike financially.

Of course, there people who think that education is in the heart of the action because of the government’s continuous measures and believe that a massive and forceful response is necessary now.

Primary school teachers

Primary teachers (the Federation of primary school teachers in Greece) decided to support the Federation of teachers in secondary schools, as well as employees in private education (the Federation of Private Education in Greece). As reported by the Federation of Private Education, "it is decided that, in order for us to deal with the storm that is raging in education, we should create a single general education front. At the general assemblies of the basic units, the Federation will submit a proposal for joint actions and protests together with the Federation of teachers in secondary education. Our Federation will help in any way the united response of all interested in the solving of problems in education."

The Federation of primary school teachers will also meet in the coming days in order to discuss events in the field of education.

Democratic Left is against protest actions

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Democratic Left party Andreas Papadopoulos expressed the position of the party, which is against a possible decision of the Federation of teachers in secondary education for school closures via protests. He emphasised: "The Federation should not proceed with this opposition, using closed schools as a weapon. In order for a protest or a strike to be successful, first and foremost it must have the support of society. If schools are closed, the public will turn against teachers. And this would be a huge mistake."