The Greek language education program run by the University of Crete to support the teaching of Greek abroad has been scrapped three days before the Greek elections.
The program, which is run autonomously by the University of Crete, has been merged with another education program that focuses on children of repatriated Greeks and foreigners living in Greece.
The conspicuous timing of the decision is further exacerbated by the fact that no specific reasons have been outlined for the change.
Although one may argue that the change will not affect the program of Greek teaching to Greeks abroad, a budget amount is not allocated in the directive announcing the new modifications.
The program was established in the academic year of 1997/98 and has been heralded as an important initiative of the Greek Ministry of Education to better support the teaching and preservation of the Greek language and culture in the Diaspora.
Many Greek-Australian teachers have been trained through seminars under the auspices of the program, which aims to teach Greek as a second language.
It has also produced educational material for the teaching of Greek culture and language to students learning Greek as a second language.