Parents in Zografou, Athens, are protesting against inadequate nursing cover for a diabetic pupil, highlighting a regional shortage of school nurses and raising concerns over student safety and emergency response preparedness.
Parents in Zografou, west of Athens, have accused the education authorities of leaving a first-year primary pupil with Type 1 diabetes without adequate nursing support, after a school nurse was assigned for just seven hours a week despite a medical note calling for continuous supervision. The Federation of Parents of Attica says the arrangement leaves the child exposed for most of the school week and raises serious questions about who would respond to a medical emergency.
According to the federation, the nurse is allocated to the 3rd Primary School of Zografou and is also expected to divide time with two nearby nurseries, where other children also need health support. That, parents say, creates an unsafe situation in which three pupils across the schools are relying on one nurse who is not present throughout the day. The immediate concern is how to handle hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia when the nurse is elsewhere.
The federation has also warned that the problem goes beyond one child or one school. It says the shortage of school nurses across Attica is putting children with chronic or serious conditions at risk, and it wants extra permanent hires so that every school can provide continuous cover where medically required. It is also pressing for a change to the law, arguing that a recent provision allowing a school nurse’s duties to be extended to pupils in adjacent or co-located schools should be scrapped.
Parents’ groups are now preparing protests and say they will take complaints to the relevant education directorates and the regional authority in Attica. The federation says it is gathering cases from schools across the region to show the scale of the shortages, while insisting that nursing support in schools is a basic safeguard rather than a luxury.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
