- An investigation into Sofia Zaharaki’s actions and record. The Ministry of Education has serious questions about her decisions:
- €74 million was awarded under a contract in record time, with a 50% advance payment for holograms and digital assistants. This occurred at a time when there were thousands of unfilled teaching positions.
- €2 million was allocated for… vegetable gardens, €10 million for interactive whiteboards, €8.5 million for “lockers,” and €2 million to promote the projects.
- All this while complaints about crumbling infrastructure are on the rise, as are incidents involving student injuries.
By Vasilis Galoupis
“Business is booming” at the Ministry of Education under Sofia Zaharaki. Although she was appointed by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in March 2025 and has not even completed a year at the ministry, the former New Democracy spokesperson has gone ahead and signed “heavy-hitting” contracts in terms of the amounts of money being spent.
As soon as she was appointed Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports, an open international tender was posted for the Digital School project, which is estimated to cost €74 million, including VAT.
This concerns the “Enhancement of the Digital School through Digital Services and Innovative Educational Tools,” which has a 12-month implementation period. The program includes provisions for a platform or tools that could include holograms.
All of this might seem like a necessary step toward modernization if our schools had first addressed basic staffing issues, so they could gradually integrate digital tools as other countries have done.
Education is underperforming and understaffed: There are serious gaps and shortages in personnel
However, this is not the case. Since the start of the school year in September, daily news coverage has reported on issues such as:
- November 1, 2025, Ethnos reported: Schools – Massive teacher shortages – Protests from students and parents. Teachers estimate the shortage at around 8,000 in primary and secondary education.
- September 11, 2025 , “To Vima”: “Special Needs Schools: “Closed Doors” for dozens of children with disabilities — Overcrowding, unsuitable buildings, and shortages.”
- October 25, 2025, “Kathimerini”: “A total of 7,160 teachers were identified as having not been assigned the full number of weekly teaching hours based on their years of service. Meanwhile, 143,195 teaching hours were found to have not been assigned to any teacher. In some cases, teachers were assigned clerical duties; in others, teachers were found to have reduced timetables without justification. Consequently, a significant number of vacancies have emerged, prompting the ministry to hire substitute teachers.”
- November 18, 2025 — “Ertnews”: “Serious shortages of teaching staff are being reported by the president of the Primary Education Teachers’ Association of Kozani. He stated, “We are now in the third month since the start of the new school year, and the shortages of special education support teachers, uncovered vacancies across all teaching specialties, deliberate increases in class sizes to 25–27 students, inadequate funding, and building-related problems are decisively shaping the profile of the public school system.”
In early November, during a parliamentary confrontation over staff shortages in schools, PASOK MP St. Parastatidis accused the government of “once again proving, for yet another school year, that it is unprepared to deal with a chronic problem: the timely and full coverage of teacher vacancies.”
He noted that “despite the 11,000 hires made in the second phase, 15,351 vacancies remain uncovered nationwide.” He described a “dystopian reality in special education schools, where students are unable to reach their schools and teaching hours are lost.”
These gaps are found in core subjects such as Humanities, Physics, and Computer Science, as well as among primary and kindergarten teachers. Meanwhile, Parallel Support and All-Day School programs are facing serious problems.
The March 2025 call for tenders for the digital school project with holograms, with a budget of €74 million
“Even ‘Holograms’”: The gigantic €74 million “digital school” tender and its nine pillars”
In light of the teacher shortage throughout the education system, the Greek government’s decision to spend around €74 million on the digital school project sounds, at the very least, jarring.
As stated in the March 14 call for tenders, the Digital School Enhancement Project includes nine main pillars:
- Development and deployment of educational tools based on three-dimensional holograms for use in primary and secondary education.
- Development of an integrated digital assistant using artificial intelligence to optimize learning and enhance the learning experience of students.
- Training teachers in new digital tools and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
- The creation of a platform and comprehensive application for high-quality audiobooks and e-books for students.
- Support individuals with special educational needs and/or disabilities through interdisciplinary assessment, counseling, and support centers (KEDASY) using modern digital tools.
- Enhancement of skills laboratories with modern digital tools and materials.
- Advisory support for parents through multimedia content, such as videos, podcasts, animated videos, and interactive digital material.
- Services for the expansion of existing tools and interoperability.
- Training services.
- The duration of the contract is set at 12 months.
“The total estimated value of the contract is €73,650,792.00, including 24% VAT. The budget excluding VAT is €59,395,800.00, and the VAT is €14,254,992.00.”
In less than six months, the contract for the implementation of the project was signed with the contractor
Awarded in record time
By Greek standards, Maria Zaharaki signed the contract in record time—less than six months, specifically, on September 4, 2025.
It concerns the “Enhancement of the Digital School through Digital Services and Innovative Educational Tools,” included as Subproject 1 in the initiative “SUB.11. Enhancement of the Digital School through Digital Services and Innovative Educational Tools” (OPS Code TA 5225427), financed by the European Union – NextGeneration EU, under the Recovery and Resilience Fund (Action 16676 – Digital Transformation of Education).
The contract is between the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports; the NSRF Executive Structure, legally represented by Minister Sofia Zaharaki; and the company “Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A.” (trading as “OTE S.A.” or “OTE” or “COSMOTE”).
Half of the amount (€28.8 million, plus VAT) was paid upfront within just 22 days of signing the contract
Half the money upfront!
Another unusual aspect of this type of contract is that the state pays half the amount upfront and within a month of signing the agreement.
On September 26, 2025, for example, Ms. Zaharaki signed a payment order to the contractor for €28.8 million, excluding VAT.
The decision to spend €2 million on a vegetable garden
And €2 million for… a vegetable garden!
However, other Ministry of Education tenders do not align with the critical needs of Greek education. Despite the lack of regular teachers and fully equipped school complexes, the need for vegetable gardens arose after the holograms and AI digital assistants, for €2 million.
On September 30, 2025, an open international tender was announced under the title: “Vegetable Gardens in Schools: With Critical Thinking and Vision, We Collaborate, Enjoy, and Create.”
The tender concerns preschool and primary education and has a total cost of €2 million, including VAT. The tender includes garden beds, soil, seeds, watering cans, and greenhouses.
€10 million was allocated for interactive whiteboards, and €2 million for publicity
Two more recent decisions are of particular interest:
- On October 10, 2025, the purchase of 2,900 interactive educational whiteboards was approved for €9.6 million.
- Additionally, a €2 million expenditure was approved on June 20, 2025, and amended on November 24, 2025, for promoting the Ministry, specifically for “information and publicity of the projects of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports (YPAITH).”
With crumbling infrastructure and student injuries
Numerous gaps in teaching staff, major problems with school buildings, and poor safety conditions for students are all happening at the same time.
In 2024–2025, the daily news continues to report on construction sites, scaffolding, and shipping containers at apartment building entrances with plaster ready to fall.
Students are greeted by old, poorly maintained buildings, such as at the 17th Primary School in Aigaleo, which was deemed unsafe after an earthquake in 2019. However, six years later, it is still operating. “Not only was the school left unrepaired, it was also vandalized. Children were split among other schools in the area until a temporary solution was found,” Ta Nea reported in September 2024.
On December 3, 2025, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Attica Parents’ Federation sounded the alarm about the situation faced by thousands of families with children with disabilities.
Despite commitments to “equitable education,” the daily reality for students in Attica remains difficult. Many children stay home because school transportation has not been secured.
Parents report serious shortages of special education staff and specialized therapists, including speech, occupational, and physical therapists. Special schools are overcrowded and often operate in unsuitable buildings. Meanwhile, Parallel Support, a right for students, has been significantly reduced due to recent budget cuts.
Parents warn that confusion between institutions, such as integration classes and parallel support, is leading to reduced hiring and resources, which harms students with disabilities. The Federation emphasizes that children with disabilities need full access to infrastructure, educational staff, and therapeutic frameworks in order to receive a dignified education.
Furthermore, dozens of kindergartens in Vyronas, Kaisariani, and Pangrati continue to operate in unsuitable, prefab buildings. In November 2025, the Greek Teachers’ Federation warned that the condition of 4,728 kindergartens nationwide is critical and noted that their operating conditions are, at the very least, alarming.
On November 5, 2025, in the Municipality of Markopoulo Mesogaias, a section of the ceiling collapsed at the First Primary School during class, injuring two students. On October 6, 2024, the false ceiling at the 1st Kindergarten of Grammatikó collapsed just minutes after the children had left. There have been dozens of similar incidents across the country.
Yet, the Ministry of Education continues to present the installation of individual school lockers in up to 4,000 primary schools as a major investment. This project has a budget of €8.5 million and will include holograms and vegetable gardens.
