MP Zisopol: The International Olympiad of Hellenism - a world's one of a kind event

The International Olympiad of Hellenism, which opened officially on Friday in Bucharest, is a world one of a kind event, said president of the Hellenic Union of Romania, deputy Dragos Zisopol. The 6th edition of the Olympiad, organized by the Ministry of National Education and the Hellenic Union of Romania, takes place at the Palace of Parliament between September 5 - 8. According to the president of the Hellenic Union of Romania, the event takes place under the aegis of the Palace of the Parliament and of the Parliament of the Hellenic Republic. Dragos Zisopol also brought to mind that the oldest International Science Olympiad, the International Mathematical Olympiad, was organized for the first time in Romania as a result of the efforts of academician Nicolae-Victor Teodorescu, adding that the Olympiad of Hellenism was also 'fathered' by a Romanian citizen, even if of Greek descent. "We wanted to confer a certain aura to Parliament, which is often disparaged, and sometimes with good reason. (...) On Saturday morning we have the award ceremony, in the presence of the ambassador of the Hellenic Republic in Bucharest, Vassilis Papadopoulos. Ministers, personalities from Romania and Greece will attend," Dragos Zisopol told AGERPRES. He went on to say that, as a university professor, since taking over as deputy, but also as president of the Hellenic Union of Romania (2008), he has laid great emphasis on Greek classes, and that modern Greek is currently entered as a mother tongue in schools. "We have over 6,000 children in Romania who study modern Greek in this system - which is extraordinarily important. We have teachers from Greece, paid by the Greek state, or teachers who are paid by the Romanian state or the Hellenic Union of Romania. Based on an application, our children can study modern Greek regardless of whether they are Greek, Romanian or philo-Hellenic, in any school in the country, as a mother tongue or modern language. The University of Bucharest provides the possibility to learn Greek, we have a Greek master's program in Bucharest, as well as doctoral supervisors. We also have Saturday kindergartens and a Greek language lectureship in Iasi. We also managed to adopt - which is a great joy - a law on the creation of the Greek Language Day, on February 9. We now conclude a very beautiful cycle with the International Olympiad of Hellenism," said the Hellenic Union deputy. The Hellenic Union of Romania has a publishing house of its own, that put out many volumes, but also provides tablets and e-books to the young students. "Almost every year, besides many other titles, our portfolio includes three books from the Academy of Athens and three from the Romanian Academy, which we put out at our publishing house with self-financing. One of the books put out by our publishing house, a volume of poetry, was proposed for the Nobel Prize. (...) Under a European project, we bought tablets or electronic books for the children. We upload e-books on these tablets and when a child completes the Greek language class, the tablet is handed over to another student," said Zisopol. The deputy announced that the Romanian-Hellenic Cultural Institute will be inaugurated this September in Bucharest - a project that is fully the result of the efforts of the Hellenic Union of Romania. The International Olympiad of Hellenism brings together students from 13 countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, Republic of Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary.AGERPRES(RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor : Florin Marin; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Maria Voican)