Greece to Pilot International Baccalaureate in 13 Public Schools

Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki described the inaugural arsenic a modulation toward a much “outward-looking and high-quality” nationalist system. Credit: Sebastian Bertrand, Flickr CC BY 2.0

Greece is acceptable to present the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme into nationalist schools for the archetypal time. Beginning successful September 2026, 13 aviator precocious schools crossed the state volition motorboat the world-renowned curriculum, marking a large measurement toward modernizing Greek public education.

The aviator signifier volition encompass selected schools successful Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, and Heraklion. These institutions are presently undergoing a rigorous certification process to conscionable planetary standards.

Final applications are acceptable for completion successful April, followed by authoritative valuation visits successful May. Certification decisions are expected by precocious June, ensuring the programme is afloat operational for the 2026–2027 world year.

Teachers selected for the programme person already completed their archetypal specialized grooming to present the IB’s inquiry-based curriculum.

International Baccalaureate successful Greece’s nationalist schools

Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki described the inaugural arsenic a modulation toward a much “outward-looking and high-quality” nationalist system. She clarified that portion the IB is not a caller qualification successful Greece—it has agelong been recognized arsenic equivalent to the nationalist precocious schoolhouse diploma (Apolytirion)—its integration into the nationalist assemblage is simply a important reform.

“This is simply a large measurement successful aligning our nationalist schools with planetary world standards,” Zacharaki noted, emphasizing that the extremity is to supply students with broader planetary opportunities.

Government officials were speedy to clarify that the IB’s instauration volition not change the assemblage admissions process. Entry into Greek public universities volition stay exclusively tied to the nationalist Panhellenic entranceway exams.

If the aviator signifier proves successful, the Ministry of Education plans to measure a wider enlargement of the IB program to nationalist schools crossed the state successful the coming years.