“Sponsorships in Education and Culture are the most effective ones and the Ministry of Education is more than happy to support them”, said Minister of Education and Religion Marietta Giannakou, at an award-conferring event organized yesterday, Thursday, November 25, 2004, on the initiative of EFG Eurobank Ergasias for third-grade lyceum students from Western Attica and Piraeus schools, who excelled and obtained the highest access grades in the Panhellenic Admission Examinations held in June 2004.
“Sponsorships in Education and Culture are the most effective ones and the Ministry of Education is more than happy to support them”, said Minister of Education and Religion Marietta Giannakou, at an award-conferring event organized yesterday, Thursday, November 25, 2004, on the initiative of EFG Eurobank Ergasias for third-grade lyceum students from Western Attica and Piraeus schools, who excelled and obtained the highest access grades in the Panhellenic Admission Examinations held in June 2004.
The Minister congratulated EUROBANK for this initiative involving more than 230.000 third-grade lyceum students throughout the country and stressed that the EUROBANK program, which was set in motion last year and continues its course, has a clearly defined goal:to reward emulation among students EUROBANK’s President of the Board, Mr. Xenophon Nikitas referred to the bank’s philosophy regarding the Group’s social presence and stressed that “our objective is to encourage the efforts of our youth to learn and be educated, since we consider it to be the safest way to personal and professional development based on values such as meritocracy at all levels, as well as on the functions of society, consistency, healthy ambition and emulation”.
Yesterday’s ceremony was the second event scheduled to take place in the Greek capital due to the large number of lyceums and of students to be awarded from schools of Western Attica and Piraeus. 144 graduates from 166 lyceums of Western Attica and Piraeus received an award.
The program titled «The Big Moment for Education», devised by EUROBANK last year, constitutes a great initiative which reinforces the already significant sponsoring presence of the Group not only in the field of education but also in that of culture and sports. The program’s objective is to support and encourage the young generation in its effort to acquire more knowledge, to attain higher goals and at the same time to enhance the presence of EUROBANK in the country’s social life. In the framework of this program, every year EUROBANK awards lyceum graduates, one from each of the 1300 day or night, public or private schools throughout Greece, who have excelled and obtained the higher grade in the Panhellenic Admission Examinations. The award conferred to each student is accompanied by an amount of €1000
Representatives of the Church, municipal representatives and individuals having an outstanding presence in the country’s social and economic life attended the event, coordinated by journalist, Mr. Yiannis Politis.
In her brief salutatory address, the Minister Marietta Giannakou stated that the Ministry of Education and the government attribute special importance to education and culture. “The human capital is the most essential, most interesting part for us, and we should jointly invest in it on a long-term basis. Greece’s education system must provide equal opportunities for high performance to all young individuals and to ensure greater support to those who need our solidarity. In a process of competition, the attainment of outstanding performance in a fair, clear way has always been a huge bet, and for this reason alone we need to say a big “bravo” to the students, but also to EUROBANK which materialized this initiative», she pointed out.
EUROBANK’s President Mr. Xenofon Nikitas described the philosophy of Eurobank regarding the Group’s social presence through sponsoring projects for education, culture and sports.
Referring to the program titled «The Great Moment for Education», Mr X. Nikitas pointed out that it is evolving into a living and successful institution for which EUROBANK wishes to constitute a solid, timeless bridge of communication with the broader society and in particular with young individuals. Through this project, a powerful financial organisation such as EUROBANK establishes a solid, mutual and creative relationship with society, thus, refunding a part of the profits that its business activities have yielded.