# Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports

The Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports (Greek: Υπουργείο Παιδείας, Θρησκευμάτων και Αθλητισμού) is a government department of Greece. One of the oldest ministries, established in 1833, it is responsible for running the country's education system and for supervising the religions in Greece. The incumbent minister is Kyriakos Pierrakakis. Greece is one of the two countries that have not signed the Lisboa convention which has been ratified by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (2012).To this day, the independent department of professional recognition of academic degrees called ATEEN, still acts illegally against graduates of recognized open universities. In 2023, the Council of State published its decision against the ministry's actions of the discriminative non-recognition of degrees.

## History

| Years | Name |
| 1833-1862 | On Religious Affairs and Public Education Secretariat of State |
| 1862–1926 | Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education |
| 1926–1949 | Ministry of Religious Affairs and Education |
| 1949–1955 | Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Education |
| 1955–2009 | Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs |
| 2009–2012 | Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs |
| 2012–2013 | Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, Culture and Sport |
| 2013–2015 | Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs |
| January–September 2015 | Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs |
| 2015–2019 | Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs |
| 2019–2023 | Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs |
| 2023 - | Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports |

## Current leadership

* Minister for Education and Religious Affairs: Kyriakos Pierrakakis
** Alternate Minister Giannis Vroutsis
*** Deputy Minister Ioanna Lytrivi

## List of ministers
### National education and religious affairs (1981–2009)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party |
| Eleftherios Veryvakis | 21 October 1981 | 5 July 1982 | PASOK |
| Apostolos Kaklamanis | 5 July 1982 | 25 April 1986 | PASOK |
| Antonis Tritsis | 25 April 1986 | 9 May 1988 | PASOK |
| Apostolos Kaklamanis | 9 May 1988 | 22 June 1988 | PASOK |
| George Papandreou | 22 June 1988 | 2 July 1989 | PASOK |
| Vasilis Kontogiannopoulos [el] | 2 July 1989 | 12 October 1989 | New Democracy |
| Konstantinos Despotopoulos | 12 October 1989 | 23 November 1989 | Independent |
| Costas Simitis | 23 November 1989 | 13 February 1990 | PASOK |
| Konstantinos Despotopoulos | 13 February 1990 | 11 April 1990 | Independent |
| Vasilis Kontogiannopoulos | 11 April 1990 | 10 January 1991 | New Democracy |
| Georgios Souflias | 10 January 1991 | 13 October 1993 | New Democracy |
| Dimitris Fatouros [el] | 13 October 1993 | 8 July 1994 | New Democracy |
| George Papandreou | 8 July 1994 | 25 September 1996 | PASOK |
| Gerasimos Arsenis | 25 September 1996 | 13 April 2000 | PASOK |
| Petros Efthymiou | 13 April 2000 | 10 March 2004 | PASOK |
| Marietta Giannakou | 10 March 2004 | 19 September 2007 | New Democracy |
| Evripidis Stylianidis | 19 September 2007 | 8 January 2009 | New Democracy |
| Aris Spiliotopoulos | 8 January 2009 | 7 October 2009 | New Democracy |

### Education, lifelong learning and religious affairs (2009–2012)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Anna Diamantopoulou | 7 October 2009 | 7 March 2012 | PASOK | |
| Georgios Babiniotis | 7 March 2012 | 17 May 2012 | Independent | National unity government |
| Frosso Kiaou | 17 May 2012 | 21 June 2012 | Independent | Caretaker government |

### Education, religious affairs, culture and sport (2012–2013)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos [el] | 21 June 2012 | 25 June 2013 | New Democracy | Coalition government |

### Education and religious affairs (2013–2015)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos | 25 June 2013 | 10 June 2014 | New Democracy | Coalition government |
| Andreas Loverdos | 10 June 2014 | 27 January 2015 | PASOK | Coalition government |

### Culture, education and religious affairs (2015)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Aristides Baltas | 27 January 2015 | 27 August 2015 | Syriza | Coalition government |
| Frosso Kiaou | 28 August 2015 | 21 September 2015 | Independent | Caretaker government |

### Education, research and religious affairs (2015–2019)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Nikos Filis | 23 September 2015 | 5 November 2016 | Syriza | Coalition government |
| Kostas Gavroglou [el] | 5 November 2016 | 9 July 2019 | Syriza | Coalition government |

### Education and religious affairs (2019–2023)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Niki Kerameus | 9 July 2019 | 26 May 2023 | New Democracy | Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis |
| Christos Kittas | 26 May 2023 | 26 June 2023 | Independent | Caretaker Cabinet of Ioannis Sarmas |

### Education, religious affairs and sports (2023–present)

| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
| Kyriakos Pierrakakis | 26 May 2023 | | New Democracy | Second Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis |

## Deputy Ministers

* Alternate Minister John Oikonomou (until 2023)
* Domna Michaelides (until 2023)
* Zetta Makri [el] (2023 to 2024)