A bill passed by a slim margin through Parliament on Wednesday, which rolls back previous reforms in Greece's higher education system, was just the "warm up" to sharp criticism against the government hours later, when the opposition zeroed in on a presidential decree changing the way schools' flag-bearers are chosen.
Under the latest decision by the leftist-rightist government, flag-bearers among schools' pupils will be chosen via a raffle, overturning a long-standing tradition in the country giving the highest graded student the honor.
While the issue may appear trivial, especially compared with the counter-reforms voted for the tertiary level hours earlier, eliminating the flag-bearing honor generated a particularly shrill reaction against the government and relevant education minister.
MPs from the ruling coalition on Wednesday morning voted to restore the full "asylum" status of every single tertiary campus in the country, to abolish tuition-based post-graduate programs and to again allow highly politicized student government representatives on universities' administrative councils at every level.
In terms of higher education, Greece is one of very few developed countries in the world, if not the only one, that has a constitutional ban (Article XVI) on the establishment of non-profit, non-state universities and colleges in the country.
Opposition reaction
"Flag-bearers through a draw: This is how SYRIZA perceives the rewarding of one's efforts. An equalization downwards, everywhere," main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis Tweeted on his personal account, in referring to the radical leftist party in power.
"The education minister is true to the government's commitments, ones aimed to abolish excellence," a MP for the PASOK-led Democratic Alignment, Odysseas Konstantopoulos, charged soon afterwards.
In a bid to allay criticism, a ministry announcement later said that "with a deep sense of responsibility before the new generation of Greeks, we consider that the nation's symbol, the flag, should give every pupil to have the right to honor it (flag) and to be honored by it", while adding that this privilege will finally be allocated "independent" of pupils' academic performance.
