A frontistirio (plural: frontistiria) is a prevalent type of private
cram school
A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schoo ...
in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. In Greece, frontistiria are divided in two categories, which can be either a facility where students are grouped in classes, and private tutoring.
Most Greek
secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
students whose families can afford the significant fees attend a frontistirio, because of the high difficulty of university entrance exams in Greece. It is generally considered impossible for all but the most gifted students to pass university entrance exams without this extra help. An even more expensive alternative is to hire private teachers who tutor the students at home (usually one teacher per subject).
They are used not only for university admission exams, but like other counterparts in countries such as South Korea and Hong Kong, many students in Greece that attend middle school or the first grade of high school (as the preparatory courses for the university exams begin in the 2nd grade of high school), due to the low quality of the education system in Greece. Now, frontistiria are starting to become common in primary school students, some times even in the first classes.
As of 2021, they are very common in Greece, and there are even entire companies which are active solely in this sector, such as the Poukamisas company that administers more than 60 branches around the country.
Nowadays, frontistiria and private teachers who cater to
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
students are also becoming common.
See also
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Cram school
A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schoo ...
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Education in Greece
Education in Greece is centralized and governed by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs (Greek: , Υ.ΠΑΙ.Θ.) at all grade levels. The Ministry exercises control over public schools, formulates and implements legislation, adm ...
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Hagwon
Hagwon () is the Korean-language word for a for-profit private institute, academy, or cram school prevalent in South Korea. Although most widely known for their role as "cram schools", where children can study to improve test scores, hagwons actu ...
References
*{{Cite book
, title= The rich world and the impoverishment of education: diminishing democracy, equity and workers' rights Volume 1 of Routledge studies in education and neoliberalism, last= Hill, first= Dave, year= 2009, publisher= Taylor & Francis US, isbn= 0-415-95775-3, page= 171, url= https://books.google.com/?id=A846Y3bD3eMC&pg=PA171&dq=Frontistirio#v=onepage&q=Frontistirio&f=false
Education in Greece