Α. Tsipras: an act of extreme obsession, the bill on Education

The Education Bill “is an extreme act of obsessive obsession”, said the president of SYRIZA-PS, Alexis Tsipras, in his intervention at the online event of the SYRIZA “Democracy and Education: The Government Threat and Society's Response,” adding that it “constitutes an attack on democracy and public education.”.

Tsipras argued that the most crucial element of the bill is the widening of social inequalities it brings about. He added that the controversy surrounding the university police, which on the part of the government is manifested “with a paraphrase of the communication doctrine Trump -such as the Minister of Civil Protection's statement about the rectors-, are a distraction”.

The president of SYRIZA argued that at the same time, the government seeks to reduce the number of students in order to create a clientele for the colleges, as he said “wants to serve the interests of college owners rather than meet social needs”.

Starting his intervention, Mr Tsipras said: “I do not know what it is that we will have to abolish when the conditions are formed and the Greek people give us the mandate for a progressive governance in the country...What is certain is that we are going through very difficult times. The unfortunate thing is that we have a government that is taking advantage of the pandemic to promote extreme conservative reforms. It takes advantage of a condition that is not conducive to social dialogue and it is no coincidence that it chooses to proceed by shrinking the democratic process.”.

Referring to the global circumstances of the pandemic, he said: “We live in difficult but instructive times: Public health systems have kept societies standing. The knowledge and research produced in major public universities and research centres has enabled us to move forward with the production of the vaccine that is the hope for tackling the pandemic. The unfortunate thing is that the government is not interested in lessons learned, nor in common sense.”.

Widening social inequalities

Turning to the main issue, he said: “The 2021 budget provides six hundred million less for public health, and also 13% down is funding for universities. Even in the critical area of education and health, the government is interested in serving private interests and contracts rather than public needs. What the government is primarily interested in is the interests of the colleges and their owners and to increase their clientele....At the same time, it is averse to a basic condition of excellence, although it is constantly invoked, which is social mobility.

The most crucial element of the bill is that the number of admissions in 2021 will be 25,000 less, a 34% more than in previous years will be left out of public educational institutions. Who will these be?; They will be those who are told by the government that if you want to study you have to find a few thousand euros to go to a private institution which will give you a certificate of dubious quality.

In colleges there is no meritocracy but only the payment of tuition fees. Young people who do not belong to the caste of the powerful in Greek society will become the new clientele of an industry that comes to Greece to do business. This is achieved with the minimum admission base, while at the same time the government throws the ball to the universities for the number of admissions. What will it cause? First of all, an increase in student attrition in high school. Second, an increase in spending on tutoring. Third, the complete cancellation of the educational role of high school in all grades.

Fourth, it will cause a reduction in university funding since it has been linked to the number of students. It will also cause departmental closures or mergers and a subsequent increase in the so-called brain drain. That is the most critical aspect of this bill. These changes will put a strain on the household budget and will increase the inequalities between the average Greek family and the elite.

Slander of the university

He then referred to the establishment of the university police: “The second reactionary aspect of the bill has to do with the vilification of the public university, as an alleged crime scene or a haven for criminals. The government's communicative exploitation of a real problem such as delinquency and crime is done to caress the ears of a conservative public, to show fierceness and to distract from the key element which is the widening of social inequalities. Establishing a university police force is an extreme act of obsessive obsession. No sane person would imagine it.”.

He did not underestimate the problem of delinquency and crime in universities, but argued that it is not being addressed by special guards but by the proposals put forward by the rectors themselves: “Tackling offending can be done by harnessing the suggestions of the university community itself. The only certainty is that the actual incidents cannot be dealt with by armed untrained special guards.

The government is obviously attempting a major diversion, that it is doing it on purpose to take it to the extreme. It is typical that Mr. Chrysochoidis“ statement that ”the rectors are addicted to the threat of abuse" is deliberately insulting. We have a paraphrase of the Trump communication doctrine. He is referring to an audience that feeds on similar arguments, but the response from the left and the social movement is not to stoop to the level of Trumpian confrontation. Mr Chrysochoidis comes from the democratic space, but the toughest Taliban are those who jump from one place to another and they're more effective at what they want to do.

Apart from disorientation and instrumentalization, with the bill the government attempts to implement the doctrine of its ministers from the far right, such as Mr. Boris  “to end the ideological hegemony of the Left imposed on the Post-election“.

The response of the left: a palace movement in defence of democracy and public education

He referred to the response that the left and the social movement must give: “The response from the left and the social movement should not be of the same level, but in the face of the challenge, arguments and not slogans. For us, the safety of students and employees is a priority, it is a matter of democracy.

The government should provide the financial means to provide even organic posts to guard the institutions on a 24-hour basis. Those who a few years ago fired hundreds of guards, including university students, are now telling us that the problems will be solved by hiring police officers. It is also incomprehensible why any crimes are no longer being suppressed since the legal framework has changed and asylum is no longer in force.”.

Concluding, Mr Tsipras said: “In 2020 there were 300 vacancies for members. FACULTY in universities. The government not only does not advertise the posts to fill them but cuts spending on higher education and instead of hiring teachers, it hires 1,030 special guards...

The government is preparing to leave its destructive imprint on Education as well. Despite the circumstances of the pandemic, we must mobilize to put a stop to it. The first to be affected are not those who like to mess up, they will mess up in or out of universities, it is a whole generation who are deprived of the right to education. And the most directly affected are the public universities. We have an attack on public education and the public university. We need a movement, not a student movement, but a popular movement in defence of education and democracy.”.