The fight for the survival for the Modern Greek language is far from over and the Greek community must not rest on its laurels now that Modern Greek has been included in the National Curriculum, warns the Federal Minister for School Education Peter Garrett.

Mr Garrett says demand needs to come from the Greek community by enrolling children of the diaspora into Modern Greek in primary school and high school.

Talking to Neos Kosmos, Mr Garrett acknowledged the hard work of the Greek community in ensuring Modern Greek was included in the National Curriculum but was quick to point out that the fight is not yet over.

By enrolling children in Modern Greek, he said that the language will retain its status in the curriculum by maintaining a strong demand, and will ultimately mean the survival of Modern Greek language in Australia.

This week, the minister visited Greek Orthodox school St George College in Thebarton, South Australia, alongside Federal Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas, to promote the government’s National Plan for School Improvement. Mr Garrett and Mr Georganas met with staff and students and the school’s priest to discuss the program in depth.

Mr Georganas says the government will fund different projects tailored to the specific needs of each school.

“St George College, in the electorate of Adelaide, has received $1.5 million for their Hospitality Skills Trade Training Centre and has installed 213 computers under the National Secondary School Computer Fund. The school also successfully applied for funding for a chaplain of student welfare worker,” he said.

The National Plan aims to give each child the chance to get “world-class education, regardless of where they live, the school they attend, or their family background”.

The plan is made more generally for all schools around Australia, but will benefit schools with specific ethnically diverse programs.
The government hopes to be in the top five countries for education by 2025. As well as their contribution, the government is desperate for the States to fund the project to achieve their 2025 goal.