Department for Ecclesiastical and Religious Education - Competences

The Department of Ecclesiastical Education and Religious Education is responsible for:

a) Matters relating to formal and non-formal secondary, post-secondary and higher ecclesiastical education in accordance with the prevailing religion of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ, as defined in article 3 of the Constitution, and the communities of recognized and legally operating religions in Greece, except for the Muslim ones, and also matters pertaining to the education, training, professional development and lifelong learning of their religious ministers; more specifically:

1. the establishment, suspension of operation, change of type, relocation, merger and abolition of secondary ecclesiastical education schools (Model Ecclesiastical Schools) and Clergy Candidate Apprenticeship Schools, which provide post-secondary ecclesiastical priestly education,
2. the operating programs of the schools referred to in this paragraph,

• enrolment and examinations for students at the schools referred to in this paragraph,

1. the appointment of teachers, Principals and Vice-Principals in the Model Ecclesiastical Schools and the Clergy Candidate Apprenticeship Schools,
2. the employment status (appointments, transfers, secondments, promotions, dismissals, retirements) of the administrative staff of the schools referred to in this paragraph,
3. the supervision of secondary education ecclesiastical schools, the “Rizarios Ecclesiastical School” and the “Athonite Ecclesiastical Academy”,

• the equivalence of the schools referred to in this paragraph to their counterparts in the rest of the public education system and their degrees,

b) The handling of any other related matter.