MacroPolis

With the holiday season drawing to a close amid a surge in coronavirus infections, opening schools has become the latest challenge for the government in Athens.

The steady clip at which coronavirus cases are being recorded in Greece is posing not only a public health challenge for the government, but also a political one.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) has released a set of indicators showing changes in living conditions in Greece, poverty levels and the intergenerational transmission of living standards.

As primary schools welcomed pupils back after lockdown, teachers are taking to the streets to protest against a major education bill tabled by the New Democracy government.

The government is forging ahead with its plans to relax the lockdown and a semblance of normality is returning to Greek politics, with issues other than Covid-19 now being addressed.

Authorities are focussing their efforts on containing a new coronavirus outbreak in central Greece that could risk upsetting efforts to suppress the disease, such as school closures, which the government announced on Friday would be extended for another month.

In his third address to the nation since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a drastic expansion of the economic support package, pledging a total of up to 10 billion euros to fight the spread of the disease in Greece and support the workers and businesses affected by containment measures.

The government is stepping up the range of precautionary measures being taken to impede the spreading of the coronavirus in Greece, where 89 people have been diagnosed with the illness, but nobody has yet died.

The OECD Government at a Glance report for 2019 has shown the shortcomings in providing services to Greeks in areas such as health, justice, education and perceptions of trust for the government.

The poor condition of Greece’s state education system has been laid bare in the latest OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).