euro|topics - Amalia van Gent

21/11/2008

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van Gent, Amalia

2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland | 12/04/2007

The dispute over a Greek history book

Amalia van Gent reports that a new history textbook brought out by the Greek Ministry of Education is causing a stir. The Orthodox Church has accused the initiators of the textbook, which was published by historian Maria Repousi and is intended for sixth graders, of embellishing the details of Greek-Turkish relations for reasons of political correctness and of undermining the role of the Orthodox Church. According to van Gent, this is intentional: "Maria Repousi and her group decided to ignore the legend of the 'secret school' in the new book, for example. According to the legend, which originated in the 19th century, the Greek language and culture only survived thanks to the efforts of Orthodox priests who resisted a ban imposed by the Ottoman Empire and secretly taught children in churches and monasteries. The picture by the famous painter Nicolaos Gyzis, showing a white-bearded Pope reading to a group of girls and boys by candlelight, has influenced generations of Greeks, but it has little to do with historical reality. The fact is Greek schools were not forbidden under the Ottoman Empire."

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland | 26/10/2006

The crisis in Greece's education system

Amalia van Gent, the newspaper's correspondent in Greece, reports on the current crisis affecting Greece's entire education system – with demonstrations, strikes and the occupation of school buildings. "University professors protesting against the government's higher education reform programme have now joined the school teachers' protest. Meanwhile, the student protests involving the occupation of school buildings, appear to have spiralled completely out of control." Van Gent points out that education is very expensive in Greece. "The chronic crisis in the public education sector has created a 'shadow education system' that is worsening the situation. School teachers supplement their low salaries by giving private lessons. As a result the quality of education in state schools has suffered. Parents who can afford it send their children to private classes in foreign languages, music, maths, history and physics to compensate for the shortcomings of the state schools."

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