The drastic reduction of detachments, by almost 30%, teachers in the various services, so that as many as possible can be used to cover the shortages in schools, it causes acute reactions from the agencies that “lose” secondees compared to last year.
The employees of the National Library of Greece are talking about an “operational crash” since September and are asking for an increase in postings.
For example, its employees National Library of Greece they talk about “functional crash” since September at EBE, while the academics of the pedagogic departments describe a similar situation. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that now the secondments last for three years instead of one, and therefore within this period their number cannot be changed.
In particular, according to the data of the Ministry of Education, in the school year 2025-2026 there were 3,272 postings and based on the plan in 2026-2027 there will be 2,290 postings of teachers to agencies, administrative departments of the ministry and supervised organizations. In fact, in 2025-2026 the secondments were also reduced, as in 2024-2025 they became 3,444.
In this context, the first reactions are recorded by the country’s pedagogical departments and public libraries. In the pedagogic departments, the secondees help with the practical exercises that the students do in the schools. The meeting of presidents and deans of the pedagogical departments of HEIs in a letter to the leadership of the ministry stated that “seconded teachers perform a critical task.
There are pedagogical departments with one or no secondees, even though they organize the internship of a large number of students.
They don’t just cover individual administrative needs. They act as a connecting link between the university and the school, they contribute to the planning and coordination of internships, they support communication with the school units, they help in the placement of students, they participate in their monitoring and pedagogical guidance and they essentially contribute to the connection of academic knowledge with educational reality. There are pedagogic departments that have received no secondees or only one, although they are asked to organize the internship of a large number of students in all four years of study. The request of the deans is to increase the number of secondments.
“Disastrous Movement”
The employees of the National Library have the same request. The board of directors of the Employees’ Association of the National Library of Greece (SYEVE) speaks of “an unacceptable and unjustified decision of the ministry” and adds to its leadership that “with a mathematically disastrous move you are leading the leading intellectual institution of the country to complete functional paralysis, blatantly ignoring the real needs of the service, the recommendations of the management and the warnings of the employees”.
According to SYEVE data, the National Library currently operates with 82 permanent employees and 128 seconded teachers. “Colleague teachers are not a “surplus” or a luxury, they are him basic lung function of EBE. They are the ones who keep open and functional the reading rooms of the General Collection of the EBE at KIPSN, the lending department of the historic Vallianei Mansion and the reading room of the special collections department.
At the same time, they lift their weight educational programs, various scientific and cultural activities, guided tours, as well as a critical volume of administrative and financial services». The Electoral Council of the EBE asked for the secondment of 145 teachers and received 80. “The 80 teachers include 14 colleagues whose transfer applications have already been launched and it is a matter of time before they are completed. With their departure, the force falls to 66 teachers. The actual rate of reduction reaches 48.5%”.
At the same time, the association points out that “the decision to allocate only 40 seconded teachers for all of the 45 public libraries in the territory (that is, not one seconded teacher per library) and leaving 16 of them with zero staff, is a monument to administrative failure and political irresponsibility. It is confirmed, thus, that the political leadership treats libraries, the region and culture as unnecessary burdens and not as social goods”.
The Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education counters that the reduction in postings was made to provide as many teachers as possible to schools during the next school year. Also, it is considered that in many cases the secondees take on work from the university staff, for which it is not part of the reason for the secondment. In fact, it is reported that postings to all agencies have decreased. Yesterday, 98 postings were announced in the Church (Archdiocese, metropolitans) from 135 last year.
