Powder keg schools

Will anything change at the First High School of Vyronas in eastern Athens after a 17-year-old boy was viciously assaulted by six fellow students while defending his sister from bullies on the afternoon of February 10? The teenager ended up in hospital for taking a stand and demanding an explanation from the other boys as to why they were picking on his younger sister.

Sure, bullying in schools is by no means a new phenomenon, but this does not mean that it is not very serious or that educators, students and parents should simply have to learn how to live with it. Nor, however, does it mean that we should expect effective action from the Ministry of Education following a visit by the minister to the school where the incident in question took place and the comments she went on to make in front of television cameras.

The Ministry of Education will obviously "be ruthless...