The future challenges of the Athens College were focused on Kyriakos Mitsotakisspeaking at the anniversary event for the 100 years since the establishment of the institution.
In his greeting, the prime minister asked “not to turn today’s great celebration into a day of nostalgia for a glorious past, but to turn it into a day of new ambitious goals for the next 100 years.”
Mr. Mitsotakis also cited a speech by Eleftherios Venizelos on May 29, 1929, when then, as prime minister, he had welcomed the operation of the institution, singling out a specific phrase: “You know that in private educational institutions in particular, it becomes possible for innovations to take place.”
On the occasion of this phrase, the prime minister posed a crucial question to all those associated with the school: whether the College of Athens today maintains its pioneering, daring and innovative character.
He then referred to 4 important challenges that the educational institution must face in the next period. “First, it is nothing but a huge challenge of artificial intelligence for the future of education. It does not mean that the College is not at the forefront of this debate. I want to point out that public schools are already in a partnership with big artificial intelligence companies, so that we can see how we can take advantage of these tools, for example to simplify the work of teachers so that they spend more time in the classroom or to empower students in such a way, however, to ensure that their work and work will not be done by artificial intelligence tools. So I really want the College to really be at the forefront of this conversation about how we integrate AI into education. The second challenge concerns the composition of the student body itself and whether the College continues to be a school which gives real opportunities to deserving children regardless of their financial situation. How many children finally get into College through exams and how many through other means. It’s something we should be concerned about, let’s not kid ourselves.
I think that in recent decades the College has to some extent lost that social stratification, which it certainly had in our time, and I think the time has come for it to regain it. The third challenge, linked to a degree to the second, concerns the financial capabilities of the College. I envision, dear presidents, a College which will have a trust so strong that it will allow any student, any student, who is able to enter the school on merit through examination, and who is unable to pay the fees, those fees to be covered by the trust. And the fourth priority is connected with the priorities of our students themselves. How the school will truly become an inclusive school that recognizes diversity, respects and acknowledges the big mental health issues and challenges that we unfortunately see many children and teenagers face, and how that will truly become a priority, so that the children here at school first and foremost are happy, having fun. We may have done relatively well in our lives and to some extent we owe that to the College. But let’s not forget that there were some who graduated from the College with unpleasant experiences, with difficult experiences, which had to do with practices that may have been acceptable in our time, but today can no longer be acceptable. So the emphasis on the mental health of our children with all the tools that we can give them so that they become complete and happy people and creative citizens, I think that should be a priority of the school for the next 100 years, or let’s say for the next 10 years, because we will not be here in the 200 years of the College, but the College will definitely be here”, he said.
“And I really want from the bottom of my heart to wish the school that we love so much to continue on this innovative path and above all not to be afraid to change”, he emphasized.
