The offical inauguration of the newly renovated secondary school complex in Kolymbari took place on Friday 7th October, and was accompanied by the reopening of the library of the two school units – the Lykeio and the Gymnasio*. Among those present were the Deputy Regional Governor for Chania Nikos Kalogeris, regional councillor Sofia Malandraki and the mayor of Platanias Giannis Malandrakis.

Speaking to the Haniotika Nea, the director of the General Lykeio of Kolymbari Zacharias Koutoulakis expressed his gratitude to colleagues and pupils for their efforts in reopening the library, which had been financially supported by the Regional Unit of Chania and the Municipality of Platanias. The library was now open, he said, to both pupils and the local community. The director of the Gymnasio Stelios Papadakis welcomed the reopening of the library, which had been first created in the early 2000s, and which he described as one of the few libraries of its type which exist in Greece.

The mayor of Platanias Giannis Malandrakis said: “We are here to celebrate the opening of the library in its renovated premises. I think this is a very important achievement of the school community, which this year has a teacher to run it, and I am very pleased at our contribution to the provision of equipment and at that of the Regional Unit with whom we collaborated. The library now has many benefits to offer, including books and also projection equipment for the pupils, but can also lend books to the local community.

“The inaguration of the library has been delayed by 1.5 years following the earlier total renovation of the school, for which the municipality secured funds from ESPA totalling 2 million euros. We had very many problems during the course of the renovation and were obliged to move the pupils and teachers to the school complex in Tavronitis for the duration of the works.

“We also had to use the municipality’s own funds to complete the work and we are now in a complex of over 2,500 sq m which includes both the Lykeio and the Gymnasio of Kolymbari. This is one more school which the municipality has essentially renovated from the ground up and we are now proceeding with energy upgrades in the rest of our school premises.”

^{* Secondary education in Greece consist of two levels. The first, the Gymnasio, is compulsory and takes pupils from the ages of 12 to 15 in three stages. The second, the Lykeio, is optional and takes pupils from the ages of 15 to 18, also in three stages.}