Greece: teachers in tents
The Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias wants to take advantage of the current tourism boom in the country and extend the holiday season from March to November. This has lead to enormous price increases on the already heated housing market. Teachers who move to work on islands popular with tourists, for example, can no longer find accommodation and are forced to sleep in tents or their cars. Commentators are outraged.
An unimaginable disgrace
Columnist Giannis Albanis fumes on News247:
“It's a humiliating situation, an unimaginable disgrace. I don't know how else to describe this degrading treatment of our children's teachers, which even leads to teacher shortages at our schools. Can there be any doubt that a teacher who is living in a tent will perform (far) worse in class? ... Local communities also bear great responsibility for the homelessness of teachers. ... It cannot be that on the island of Paros, where thousands of rooms are rented out to tourists, a few dozen houses for teachers cannot be found.”
Unfortunately nothing new
Author and former teacher Nikos Salteris writes in Protagon:
“The 'miracle' of Greek tourism has its victims. ... People have become more aware of the problem in recent years, but it is nothing new. Both permanent and substitute teachers who are employed in island regions and especially in the Cyclades, where the luxury tourism model prevails, have major problems finding accommodation. ... While waiting for accommodation, teachers in Santorini, Mykonos and other such places sleep in their cars, at campsites and even in sleeping bags on the beach for days. ... It is no coincidence that there has been a wave of resignations among teachers in these regions this year. Despite the need.”