June 2022
4 Travelling around Greece
The story
We, the children in the third and fourth grade of primary school, wrote articles about the old schools and interviewed our relatives and residents of our village, Kalavarda, who talked to us about their school years. We looked up in the old archives of our school to find out when the school had started operating, how many students were each year, and the names of the teachers who were teaching. Also, we presented our school as it is today and how we spend our time in it. Sotiris Kasanis- Katherine – Anna ChatzinikolaPanagiotis Giannakopoulos –Αnna Anna-Fotini Papatheodorou-Danae Dimitra-Irini Karanatsiou The foundation of our school Our school was established after the official decree numbered 27260 / 20-8-47 of the military commander of Dodecanese. The school was relegated to monothesio (meaning one teacher teaching at school) after the ministerial decree numbered 119.467 /9-9-70. The benefactors When Italians commanded the island, the
couple Panagiotis and Maria Makarouna donated a house to Church on condition that they would use it only as a school, as it happened. Anna-Fotini Papatheodorou-Danae Dimitra-Irini Karanatsiou On the way to school In 1950 students had to be at school early. But there were no primary schools in all villages and as a result, students were walking for one hour to get to school, in harsh weather conditions. We should bear in mind that not all kids had shoes and warm clothes in those years. Also, some kids took off their shoes and walked barefoot in order not to damage the only pair they had. Irini Karanatsiou 1960-The Breadline In 1960, the school my grandma used to go to was ‘dithesio’, meaning that it had only two teachers. These teachers were teaching all classes and they were very strict. There were Turkish toilets outside and a building where kids were eating. The state provided only breakfast.
The teachers took the milk, heated it in a pan, and shared a ladle with each kid in their small tin canisters, with a little cheese and a slice of bread. Anna- Fotini Papatheodorou
of slaps. The children did everything correctly in order not to be hit by the teachers and, sometimes, they were standing on one leg in a corner of the class. Sotiris KasanisPanagiotis Giannakopoulos
The school inspectors School inspectors were those people who visited schools to check if students were working properly and observe their teachers’ work as well. So, in this way, teachers were feeling very stressed and they tried to prepare pupils by telling the questions and answers that the school inspectors were about to make. That was not a very nice way for the kids to learn them. Luckily, we don’t have school inspectors now. Danae Dimitra and Irini Karanatsiou
The school garden My school has a big garden. Long ago, they planted rosebushes in the whole garden. Even longer ago, my school had fruit and vegetables. At the end of the school year, the kids were selling them and got money to go on holiday. Now we planted various vegetables, such as onions, leeks and lettuce. We created groups that will plant, clear the ground and take away garbage that will be close to our plants. Many students, both in the old times and nowadays, like cultivating plants. I feel great that my school has such a wonderful garden! Danae Dimitra
The punishments In old times, punishments included the use of a wooden stick and a couple
