Greece's Ministry of Education has distanced itself from a dispute over the content of a schoolbook listed in the country's new Register of Teaching Books, insisting that textbooks are chosen and approved solely by scientific committees rather than by the political leadership.
Ministry sources said the books are not choices made by the political leadership as far as their content is concerned. They said the material is instead evaluated by scientific committees following the procedures of the Institute of Educational Policy, known as the IEP, precisely so that educational material is assessed on scientific and pedagogical grounds rather than depending on the personal judgment of whoever holds the post of minister.
Error-reporting platform for approved books
The sources stressed that the process does not end once a book is added to the Register. Beyond the required obligations for corrections and updates, the IEP has already set up, on the initiative of the Minister of Education, a platform for logging observations and errors, so that any issues that arise are recorded and examined through the established institutional channels.
The same sources said the row surrounding this particular book shows in practice why the so-called Multiple Textbook system matters, since it offers more choices and more pedagogical tools rather than a single option imposed on everyone. According to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Greece's state-run news wire, the sources added that the education reform is moving away from the model of one single textbook used uniformly in every school, and is instead introducing a greater number of scientifically evaluated options, giving teachers more room for pedagogical judgment suited to the needs of each classroom.
Publisher rejects claims about the images
The ministry sources also noted that the publishing house behind the book has already responded publicly with its own clarifications. According to the company, the claims made in press reports do not reflect the book's actual content, and it has rejected the accusations. The ministry said it is following the matter, with its focus on the scientific validity of the educational material.
Earlier the same day, Friday, the publisher of the Language textbook for the second grade of primary school named in the reports issued a statement describing what it called a malicious and orchestrated attack by conservative circles. It said the content of two images was being distorted and the public deliberately misinformed, and said it had already taken the necessary legal action.
What the disputed images actually show
The publisher, Nisos, said the attack was false and misleading because it interpreted part of the book's illustrations according to what it called the critics' own ideologically driven and anti-democratic standards. In a section of the book titled "Who are the important loved ones around us?", the book presents illustrations of different kinds of social relationships that can be part of a child's life, such as parents, grandparents and friends.
Nisos said the first disputed image shows a single-parent family made up of one mother and two children, a boy and a girl, with the girl playing with a rabbit. It said reports had misleadingly described the image as showing a family with two women and a child. The publisher said the fourth image shows a family of a father and a mother with two children, not two fathers with two children as had been circulated, adding dryly that a woman, including a mother, can apparently have short hair.
Publisher says it will not tolerate distortion
Nisos said that as democratic citizens it fully accepts the principles of inclusion, equal standing and respect for difference, and therefore accepts families structured differently, which it said every modern democratic society recognises and has also enshrined in law. It said it accepts the expression of opposing views, noting that history has always included people who resist democratic progress, though ultimately in vain.
The publisher said it would not tolerate the deliberate distortion of the book's content or the slandering of the book, its authors and the publishing house, and said it had therefore taken the necessary legal steps to protect its reputation and the institution of the multiple textbook.
