OXI Day: Student parade with over 235 Schools participating in Athens

In the presence of a large number of people, the great student parade took place in the center of Athens, for the anniversary of October 28, 1940. The 235 schools of Athens 1st Districts (134 primary, 50 gymnasiums and 51 Lyceums, general and special education) participated in the parade, with their flag bearers and five supporters each, the Special Olympics team, as well as the scouts.

The parade was also attended by representatives of the political and state leadership of Greece, including the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Niki Kerameos, the regional governor of Attica, Giorgos Patoulis and the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis.

In her statements after the end of the student parade, Ms. Kerameos referred to the State’s duty to teach the new generation about the country’s glorious past.

“With great pride and emotion we watched our children, the students, marching in honour of this historic day. On the day of the big “OXI / NO” against the invader, a day when we honour the fight against fascism and Nazism, the fight of our ancestors so that we can all be free today”, noted the minister.

“It is our duty to teach our children the glorious past, to teach them how much our ancestors fought for us to be free today. By teaching precisely the glorious past, we seek a better present and envision an even more hopeful future”, concluded Ms. Kerameos.

For his part, the regional governor of Attica, Giorgos Patoulis, underlined: “Eighty two years have passed since the great, historic “OXI” of Greece against the conquerors. We will say the same “OXI” whenever it needs to be said again, because we have our proud army, but above all our young people, who know – and proved it with today’s parade – to be close to the values but above all with pride towards our ancestors , who sacrificed themselves for us to be free.”

Finally, the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, in his statements, spoke of a “relay race from generation to generation” that emphasises what unites us. “Joy, excitement, emotion and pride for the children who marched today and held the flag up high”, Mr. Bakoyiannis pointed out and added: “It is a relay race from generation to generation, proving in practice that all that unites us is much more than those few that separate us.”