Following is an interview with Mrs. Monique Hatzaki-Ackerman, member of the Parents Association of the Iraklion School of Arts and a representative of the Parents Union, where she is a vice president and the Union's representative in the Gouves Municipal Education Committee and the Parents Federation of the Iraklion Prefecture.

From your position in the education committee, can you, in general terms, describe the situation in the first and second level education in the demos?

Mainly, I participate in the correct distribution of money for the operating expenses of the municipality's schools. There is also the financing for the maintenance and repairs of the buildings, which by a 1994 ministry decision became a municipal obligation, and that's where the problem lays. 

In 2008, the funding to the Gouves demos for all school maintenance and repairs was 15,000 euros, which is roughly 1,000 euros for each school annually. It barely covers the painting of each school. We distributed roughly 37.000 euros, that is to say, 22,000 euros more than the government financing. Our biggest problem is the school buildings infrastructure. For many years now, it doesn't even cover a small percentage of our building needs due to the rapid demographic increase.  We repair and use temporary solutions, which, with time, these temporary solutions become permanent installations.

The resolution to the school housing problem requires obtaining substantial capital, something that with the current crisis might not be feasible. However, there are many funding opportunities through regional and European programmes which should be explored and developed.

How can the municipality's Parents Union help in the problems which have surfaced in the past few years?

The power, created by the Union of all Parents Associations with a frequent and collective recording of problems, helps to underline all problems, increasing the gravity of pressure and demands to be made to the proper institutions. And, I believe that it helps in the bonding of parents in our municipality.

In all your years of "asking and getting" through the numerous parents associations, what was your best and your most disappointing experiences?

Each success, however small, was a victory, but my best ones were the moments I spent with the children and their huge smiles, which were the biggest "thank yous" I've ever received.  Also, I want to stress that anything we've achieved we did it collectively. My biggest disappointment is well known and it's the still pending realization of the new building installations for the Kokkini Hani grammar school, although we have in hand the ministry's decision since May of 2004.

What would you demand from the leaderships of the current parties in Greece, in order to achieve educational reform?

Firstly, they must realize that they urgently need big reforms, for a different structure in the programme of courses in schools and they need to seriously change the existing infrastructure in school housing. Education in Greece needs an immediate increase in financing, because investing in education means improving the future of Greek economic competitiveness, worldwide. The vision: modern, mandatory, day-long schools, with certified courses, without the need for private tutoring. And we sorely need a tenure status for schoolteachers and professors in our schools.