Types of institutions

General non-compulsory secondary education is offered at lykeia (upper secondary schools).  Attendance lasts 3 years and includes grades Α, Β and C.
There are also upper secondary schools which offer experimental curricula or are oriented towards students with specific inclinations or educational needs.
In this context, the types of schools that provide general non-compulsory secondary education and award equivalent certificates are the following:

Day upper secondary schools

 Day general upper secondary schools, (Imerisia genika lykeia) are the main providers of general non-compulsory secondary education  addressing the majority of pupils selecting general education at this educational level.
Day general lykeia amount to 984.

Evening upper secondary schools

Evening general upper secondary schools (Esperina genika lykeia) are attended by working students, who wish to complete school education. More specifically, as stated in law 4547/2018, eligible to enroll are adults and working, underage students.
Evening general upper secondary school attendance lasts 3 years (law 4547/2018) and includes grades Α, Β, and C. Grades Α, Β and C correspond to grades A, B and C of the day general upper secondary school.
In Greece, esperina genika lykeia amount to 48.

Upper secondary schools of special education and training 

Pursuant to law 3966/2011, the upper secondary schools in special education and training  include a preliminary class and grades A', B' and C' as in geberal secondary education. Lower secondary school graduates with disabilities and special educational needs can  enroll directly in grade A of an upper secondary school, after an evaluation carried out by the relevant ΚΕDDΥ (Center for differential diagnosis and support for special educational needs). 
Curricula instruction time for the 3 grades of special education upper secondary schools is stipulated in Ministerial Decision 83315/ Δ3/30-6-2020. 
Public upper secondary schools of special education amount to 6. 
More information is available in Chapter 12.

Geographical accessibility

In order to ensure the provision of secondary education to students in remote areas, an effort is made for the geographical distribution of general secondary schools in consistency with the needs of the local population and particularities of local conditions.  The establishment and operation thereof is the outcome of the collaboration, the opinion and the recommendations of the local community and the competent local educational authorities.
According to ministerial decision 50025/26-09-2018, regional authorities are responsible for the transport of students.  In particular, the regional authorities provide for the free transport of students with student travel cards for distances up to 2,500 kilometers or for transport services for 5,000 kilometers and above.  ministerial decision 53173/11-08-2022 Students who have completed secondary education and have enrolled in other types of school are not entitled to free transport.

Admission requirements and choice of school

Attendance in lykeia (upper secondary education schools) is non-compulsory.  The graduation certificate of lower secondary school is a requirement for enrolment.
Students attend the upper secondary school in the region of their permanent place of residence.  The secondary education director decides the boundaries of an area in a city covered by a school as well as the maximum number of students enrolled in the school.  If the said areas cannot be designated under the competence of a single education director, such decision is taken by the competent regional director of education.

Age levels and grouping of students 

There is no age limit for enrolment in upper secondary education schools. However, for the most part, student age ranges from 15 to 18 years.  Every grade consists of one or more classes, depending on the number of pupils. Classes of general education and of groups of direction in the third grade of upper secondary education cannot consist of 25 pupils and above. Classes with 25 pupils and above are divided into groups anew. (l. 4610/2019)

In upper secondary schools, the instruction of different cognitive fields/subjects, as they are described in the national curricula, is undertaken by teachers having the respective specialization.  For example, the teaching of history is the work of the language teacher, mathematics is the work of the mathematician and physics is the work of the physicist.

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the school unit and if it is necessary, teachers may be required to teach a subject/subjects similar to their specialization. For example the subject of history may be allocated to the foreign language teacher.  The assignment of lykeio subjects to teachers of secondary education is determined by ministerial decision 85980/Δ2/03-7-2020. 

Under the applicable legislation, the teaching of a specific course by a teacher of a respective specialization is not limited in terms of the number of years of study the teacher has undertaken to teach that specific course to a specific class of pupils.

Organisation of the school year

The organization of the school year for upper secondary schools is defined at central level.  The school year begins on 1 September and ends on 31 August of the following year. The teaching year begins on 1 September and ends on 30 June.

The teaching year in general upper secondary education is divided in two school terms. The first term runs from September 11 September to 20 January. The second term starts on 21 January and ends at the end of the teaching year (final week of May). The closure of teaching is followed by the exam period.  

The exam period includes written progression and school leaving certificate exams, and starts at the end of the second term from May to June. A second examination period is foreseen from1 September until the start of classes, for students who failed in some subjects.

Instruction and exams are suspended during Christmas holidays (two weeks), Easter holidays (two weeks) and summer holidays from 1 July to 31 August.

During the summer holidays, schools operates once a week for administrative purposes.

The number of teaching days amounts to 189 per year and are organized into weeks of 5 days each (Monday to Friday).  The number of teaching hours is 35 on a weekly basis for day general upper secondary schools and 25 for general evening upper secondary schools.

Instruction time  is established on the basis of the national curricula by ministerial decisions and applied collectively to all types of general secondary schools throughout the country.  Details on teaching hours and programmes can be found in section 6.5 Teaching and Learning in General Upper Secondary Education.  

Organisation of the school day and week

The weekly teaching time per grade is defined at central level for all types of general upper secondary schools.

The classes in day schools begin at 08:15 and end at 14:10, while in evening schools classes begin at 19:20 and end at 22:55.

However, the allocation of courses on a weekly basis is not defined centrally.  It is a decision of each school unit and is formed in accordance with the needs thereof.

In addition to classrooms, each school unit has its own, auditorium or hall for celebrations, library, science laboratory and computer lab.