A delegation of the Greek Community of Melbourne, parents and representatives of the Italian community had a series of meetings with the Minister for Education Mr James Merlino, Minister for Families and Children and Youth Affairs Ms Jenny Mikakos and Minister for Women Ms Fiona Richardson, on the issue of continuing the teaching of Greek and Italian at the Northcote High School (NHS).

A meeting was held with the minister for education on Wednesday afternoon, where Mr Merlino was informed about this pressing issue by Ms Mikakos.
The meeting was also attended by the Greek Community of Melbourne’s vice-president and education convenor Mr Theo Markos, by Mr Fion Sykiotis, parent, and two representatives of the Italian community.

“The minister showed great interest and was a keen supporter of our requests, underlining the importance of teaching the two languages in the public school system,” Theo Markos said.

Prior to this, an urgent conference had been held by the NHS’s school council to discuss the school’s language program and re-examine the school council’s decision to partner with an independent consultancy firm, SenateSHJ, to seek perspectives from across the school community and present a report with its proposals.

A delegation of the Italian and Greek community met with Minister Richardson, who promised the consultation would be open and fully transparent to all interested communities. Ms Richardson saw the principal of the school Ms Katie Morris to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, the Greek Democritus Workers League has also expressed its grave concerns regarding the decision made by the NHS Council to axe the teaching of both Greek and Italian as from 2017, at their mid-annual meeting in Northcote.

“Democritus expresses its solidarity and unequivocally supports those students that wish to learn both Greek and Italian at NHS. Furthermore, we support the efforts initiated by the Greek and the Italian Communities, the current and prospective parents of NHS students in seeking the reinstatement of teaching both the Greek and Italian languages into the year seven curriculum for 2017 and beyond,” the general meeting announced in a statement.

The league members stressed the importance of preserving the 40-year tradition in the teaching of both languages at NHS and how imperative it is to ensure that the transition from primary schools located in Northcote (i.e. Northcote Primary, Merri Creek etc.) to NHS will not interrupt students’ language learning.

“Democritus does not support the proposition that ‘both ethnic languages could be taught afterhours by ethnically motivated private or community fee paying schools’. The decision made does not represent any positive steps of integration and inclusiveness, but on the contrary it leads to divisiveness and segregation,” the statement continued.

“Currently there are students in form five at NHS that five years ago could not take Greek as a second language as part of the curriculum due to the high demand. They were offered to take Italian instead. Two years later they transferred to learning Greek as a second language. What has changed? Why did the NHS Curriculum Council axe both languages without consultation? Today approximately 120 students at NHS are learning Greek as a second language as part of the curriculum.

“Democritus seeks reinstatement for teaching of both Greek and Italian as second languages for the NHS Curriculum from 2017 and beyond and is willing to assist in every possible way to ensure this occurs.”