After October 18, 1981 and his great victory PASOK in the parliamentary elections, the wind of “Change» began to be felt in the country. PASOK with his social contract had promised a lot, but also the demanding social body of the time now deserved the deep reform of the country.
THE education was not an exception to the reformist streak that characterized PASOK’s first administration, as during the pre-election period the party had presented at a theoretical level an integrated, coherent and exemplary educational policy program, with accurate diagnoses of the problems and equally good and progressive solutions for the three levels of education. Thus, after the electoral triumph it achieved and the formation of a government, PASOK hastily began implementing its program towards the radical change it had promised. As part of the promised change, it would end long traditions and narratives that have stood the test of time.
More specifically, in education he launched three important and highly symbolic changes, which were connected either to his political agendas for social justice, democratization and social liberation or to his more general interventions aimed at overcoming outdated policies and institutional modernization of the country. THE abolition of the multi-tonal systemof entrance exams from middle school to high school and her school uniform was one of the first measures promoted by the PASOK government at the starting point of its educational policy.
General access to high school
Law 309/1976, which reformed general education, once again established the nine-year compulsory education, but article 29 of the same law provided that “from the school year 1977-78, the graduates of the Gymnasium are enrolled in the 1st class of the Lyceum after tickets exams”. PASOK and the left-wing opposition expressed their strong objections to the measure, linking it directly to the unfair and unequal treatment of the weak social strata.
The unhindered entrance of everyone to the lyceum led to the massification of it, and then of higher education as well.
Thus, the PASOK government, emphatically emphasizing on the one hand that education is an inalienable social good and a citizen’s right that must be provided by the state and on the other hand the need to democratize the education system, initiates the abolition of examinations with retroactive effect, initially by act of of the President of the Republic on November 11, 1981 and a little later with the submission of a bill to the Parliament for the ratification of the presidential act, which was voted on January 18, 1982. In fact, in the same bill, during the process of its discussion in Parliamentthe provision for the establishment of the monotonic system is also incorporated.
The counter-arguments put forward by New Democracy is that by abolishing the exams, the professional choices of students will be postponed by at least three years, youth unemployment will increase, the level of high school studies will fall due to its massification and, by extension, the pressure on tertiary institutions, resulting in massification of them as well.
Indeed, as was to be expected, the policy of abolishing the exams and unhindered entry to the lyceum led to its massification and, in turn, the massification of Greek higher education. Although, as mentioned above, this choice of PASOK was strongly criticized and with various arguments by the official opposition, nevertheless the truth is that the same trends had preceded in the Western world, during the decades of the 50s, 60s and 70s, in the context of prevalence of the welfare state but also of the theory of human capital, which highlighted education as a critical driver of socio-economic development.
From the time of Kapodistrias
The school uniform, on the other hand, had come a long way since one of the significant goals of educational policy was to achieve school uniformity. Its roots in the Greek context go back to his time Kapodistriawho gives instructions for a certain “decent” dress code for his students Orphanage, while this was still operating in Poros. The clothing that would be provided to his inmates included “a frock, two undershirts, two breeches, a pair of shoes, a fezion, a cap and a belt.”
In 1876, the cabinet itself will deal with the “idiosyncratic and uniform clothing of students educated in public doctorates”. As mentioned in the decision, the students of the public Greek schools and high schools were now obliged to wear the student uniform – which consisted of a robe, periskelida, pilon and cloak – “inside and outside the classrooms throughout the time of their apprenticeship”. , while the instructions for the appearance of the uniform were very detailed. Even the “knobs” had to be brass, “bearing a glaucous emblem in relief”.
Post-politically, the student dress is now changed to a feminine gender and is identified with the student’s apron.
Post-politically, the scope of the school uniform is drastically limited and defined sexist, since it is now transformed into a feminine gender and is identified with the student’s apron. Over time, however, the measure of student dress and appearance actually begins to “relax” in the daily school routine, as at the same time the criticism against the apron is increasingly strengthened, with the argument of unconstitutional discrimination and unequal treatment of the two sexes. It is, in fact, indicative of the fact that the expulsions of schoolgirls due to “immodest clothing” are beginning to raise not only social reactions, but also appeals to the Council of State, cultivating the ground for what will follow.
The small rebellion of teachers and students at the 4th High School of Aegaleos
When PASOK prevailed as a political agent of change, it did not take long to include the student outfit in its reform agenda. It all seems to have started from 4th High School in Egaleoaccording to her testimony Konstantinas Goggakis, in which there was a small rebellion, accompanied by the threat of a strike. Female teachers protested against the provision of the civil service code, which provided for “the decent appearance of female teachers”, while female students turned against the apron, refusing to wear it. The matter came to an end ELME of Western Atticathen to EVERYONE and from there, on January 20, 1982, at Ministry of Education. His final settlement was undertaken by Deputy Minister of Education Petros Moralis, with whom Konstantina Goggaki maintained “strong political ties”. By its decision (February 5, 1982), the apron of secondary school students, as a remnant and symbol of a certain tradition and ideological direction, became non-mandatory. Thus, on February 8, 1982, Monday, a new era began for the female students of our country’s secondary schools: they dressed in whatever they wanted, always in the context of decency, turning the monochromatic school atmosphere into a colorful one reality, while on February 9 the ministerial circular was officially released.
It should be noted parenthetically, however, that the student apron was also associated with a flourishing field of economic activity. The market offered the product in various qualities and designs, with the result that its price variation was large (from 400 to 1,700 drachmas) and the concept of uniformity very relevant. More specifically, when the government announced the measure, there were approximately 200 specialized craft units engaged in apron manufacturing and employing 2,000 workers. That’s why artisans and merchants reacted together, since huge quantities of blue cloth and thousands of sewn aprons would go unclaimed. The historic department store Minionsfor example, according to his calculations, he had suffered a loss of 40 million drachmas.
If from the government side the non-mandatory apron was presented as a contribution to the effort of social liberation, free development of the personality, etc., the traditional-conservative social strata saw various risks from the decision of the newly formed PASOK government: it would shake school order , the feeling of belonging to a collective, would deregulate worldly behavior, would strengthen indiscipline, possibly also the relaxation of morals, while class antagonisms would become more evident in the school space, with a visible risk of social frictions and rivalries. Also, some parents cited the practicality of the school apron and argued that they would be forced to incur additional costs for their children’s daily clothing.
At the same time, of course, the students not only almost universally approved the decision of the PASOK government, but in some cases they also proceeded to carry out their own youth rituals for the victories, handing over the blue aprons “of the sky and of the sea” as a symbol of unfreedom, outdated regulation and unacceptably unequal discrimination of the two sexes.
Mr. Dimitris F. Charalambous is a professor of Educational Policy at the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education of AUTH.
Edited by: Evanthis Chatzivasiliou
