School in Greece: compulsory from four, free, and a child benefit that takes five years to arrive

Your child can simply go to the public school in Greece, and it costs nothing: free education at all levels is a constitutional principle. Compulsory schooling starts earlier than in the Netherlands — at four, because the two kindergarten years have been compulsory since school year 2021-2022 — and runs through the gymnasio, the lower secondary stage that ends around fifteen. You enrol online, with your TaxisNet codes, at the school that belongs to your home address. The find is not at the school but at the counter next to it: the Greek child benefit, the επίδομα παιδιού, requires five years of permanent and legal residence in Greece, proven with tax returns. Whoever has just arrived doesn't get it, while the Dutch child benefit stops in the meantime.

How is Greek education structured?

The system is centrally organised: one ministry, national curricula, and the same structure in every village.

School	Age	Duration	Compulsory
Childcare (παιδικός σταθμός)	2 months to 4 years	—	no, and no legal entitlement to a place
Kindergarten (νηπιαγωγείο)	4 and 5	2 years	yes
Primary school (δημοτικό)	6 to 12	6 years	yes
Lower secondary (γυμνάσιο)	12 to 15	3 years	yes
Upper secondary (λύκειο), general or vocational	15 to 18	3 years	no

Two things you don't know from the Netherlands. Kindergartens and primary schools have an optional all-day variant with activities until five in the afternoon; in part of the classes an extended programme runs until half past five. And on remote islands several year groups can sit in one classroom with one teacher — the school is there, but it is small.

After the gymnasio your child chooses between the general lyceum (GEL) and the vocational lyceum (EPAL). That is the moment the Greek system selects, later than in Germany, earlier than the Dutch choice of profile.

How do I enrol my child?

For kindergarten, enrolment runs through the online service of the Ministry of Digital Governance, with your TaxisNet codes, and you apply to the kindergarten that belongs to your home address. The application is free and processing takes up to twenty days. Whoever cannot use the online service goes to the school itself; the head then enters the application. Without the TaxisNet codes from the registration phase you get no further here — one more reason to arrange the AFM and the access code early.

For primary school and the gymnasio the same principle applies: the school of your neighbourhood, based on your address. Count on education entirely in Greek. International schools exist, but almost only in Athens and Thessaloniki, and they are private.

Do I get child benefit in Greece?

Not immediately, and that is the item that hits the family budget. The Greek child benefit runs through OPEKA, is applied for afresh every year with application A21 (the application period opens in early March and closes on 15 January of the following year) and is paid in six two-monthly instalments. The amounts depend on the "equivalent family income":

Family income (equivalent)	First and second child	From the third child
up to € 6,000	€ 70 per child per month	€ 140 per child per month
€ 6,001 to € 10,000	€ 42	€ 84
€ 10,001 to € 15,000	€ 28	€ 56

But the access requirement comes before the amount: the applicant must have lived permanently in Greece for the past five years, and you prove that with a Greek tax return for each of those years. EU citizens are eligible, but only after those five years; they also submit their registration certificate from the police. For a child of compulsory school age it also applies that the child is enrolled and attended sufficiently.

Five years without child benefit, on either side. The Dutch child benefit stops as soon as you are no longer insured in the Netherlands, and the Greek one only starts after five years of Greek tax returns. Count that gap into your monthly budget, and let it weigh if you come with children and a Greek salary.

What about the Dutch side?

Report your departure to the SVB: whoever goes to live and work outside the Netherlands and is therefore no longer insured loses the child benefit — often benefit from the new country of residence comes back in its place. Within the EU family benefits are offset, not stacked — but in the Greek situation there is nothing on the other side to offset in the first years. How you stop the allowances properly is in the article on allowances.

What else you arrange on arrival — the AMKA for the child, the family doctor, healthcare — is in the healthcare article. And whoever hesitates over the choice of school between mainland and island: the question is not whether there is a school, but how many year groups sit in one classroom.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Greece or go straight to step 5.4 in the open plan.