“The pandemic didn’t let us make any progress”, said the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at the forum “project2030.gr” organized by ONNED. He also referred to the government’s plan to create “many and good vacancies for the young men and women of our country”, pointing out, however, that the Recovery Fund has developed rapid reflexes to meet the needs created by the unprecedented pandemic.

The Prime Minister spoke of the need for an investment boom and the creation of good jobs for young people in our country, but he also referred to those who may want to return from abroad. In this context, he referred to the developments of the last week regarding important projects: “On Monday, we contracted the Metro Line 4. The day before yesterday, the contract for the E65 highway was also signed. The transfer of the shares from the Hellinikon S.A. was signed yesterday by the Lamda Development S.A.”, he also added.

He noted that the start-up companies have positively responded to the project, while he added that the biggest challenge our planet is now facing is the environmental one, but at the same time, this challenge can create great opportunities.”

As for the digitization, Mr. Mitsotakis pointed out, among others, that “we still have too much progress to make and too many resources to use in the field of digitization and interconnection”.

As for the education

“We have to somehow adapt our schools and our curriculum to the needs of the labor market and a world that is changing in a rapid pace.” To consolidate the concept of skills, the ones called “soft skills” in order to get away from the rote memory and to develop critical thinking. To expand the matters of the subjects we teach and enrich the curriculum with subjects that meet the challenges of the times, such as environmental or sex education, issues that were possibly treated as a taboo. “But in a society that is evolving and progressing, such subjects cannot be left out of the educational subjects,” said the Prime minister, speaking about education.

Taking the opportunity, he referred to the strike declared by the Greek foundation of secondary education state school teachers on the day of the exams of the experimental schools and the lawsuit filed by the Minister of Education. More specifically, he stated: “Just have a look at the great importance we give to model and experimental schools. On Monday we will have exams and we were informed about the strike yesterday, unfortunately. But on what purpose did the Greek foundation of secondary education state school teachers take this decision? It’s all about the examinations of young children who want to apply for posts in a public model experimental school. That is the reason why we immediately appealed to the Court and I appreciate and hope that the strike will be declared illegal, so that these examinations will be conducted properly and, in this way, we will stop being held hostage of such outdated trade union perceptions. And this is one of the positive effects of the new labor law that we have passed. “If this strike is declared illegal, there won’t be any loophole in order to proceed with it through another, secondary or tertiary body,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

Referring to technical education, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that “Unfortunately in our country much attention wasn’t paid to technical education” but there is a need “to break and change these stereotypes.”

However, the Prime Minister also stressed the need for the adaptability of modern people and, especially, the younger ones, as he said “What is sure is that, on your working life, you will need to constantly train or, why not, even change career”.

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