October 2019

The Greek Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday that from now on, all diplomas issued by the country’s secondary schools will include neither the citizenship nor the religious affiliation of the students.
This comes as a result of a recent decision by the country’s Personal Data Protection Authority, which requested the Greek state to cease including this personal information in its archives and recording it on the diplomas it issues to students.
Tuesday’s announcement complies with a ruling by the country’s independent privacy authority that responded to a complaint by atheists and rights activists.
”In compliance with the number 28/2019 Decision of the Personal Data Protection Authority, the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs has launched an amendment so that religion and citizenship are no longer listed in school records, diplomas, and the “myschool” information system,” the statement noted.
The authority found it was illegal for school authorities to list pupils’ faith and nationality on end-of-school certificates on an internal Education Ministry portal, and on declarations non-Greek Orthodox parents must sign to exempt their children from otherwise obligatory religious education classes.
Speaking about the decision, Minister of Education Nikki Kerameus said that her Ministry decided to go ahead with this amendment in order to comply fully with both national and European laws.
Education Minister Niki Kerameos said authorities are now taking appropriate actions to comply. Greek schools, she said, should be “free and non-exclusionary.”
Up until now, all diplomas issued by Greek schools included the religious beliefs of the student as well as a notation of his or her citizenship, and this information was kept in the schools’ archives.
Greece stopped the listing of religious faith on state identity cards in in recent years, despite strong opposition from the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece.

Greek Tribune