This webpage was created by the Hellenic Copyright Organization (HCO) in the framework of the ‘Greek Copyright School’ Project. This Project incorporates a number of actions with regard to raising awareness between school teachers, pupils and youngsters in general about the importance of copyright protection.
‘Greek Copyright School’ was launched on the basis of the educational programme ‘Copyright’. This programme was designed by the schoolteachers Ralia Thoma, Maria Koumpoura, Ioannis Delis, Marianna Sourtzi and Eleana Chaviara. It was then approved by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and was included in the primary school curriculum (optional for the fifth and sixth grades). The approval was initially granted for the school year 2014-2015 and subsequently for 2015-2016. For the following years, approval was also granted, but this time for all classes of elementary school.
In 2014, HCO, in the context of promoting the educational programme, organized a number of events addressed both to Directors of school activities of all prefectures and to schoolteachers. Well-known authors and artists participated in those events and had the opportunity to inform schoolteachers about the importance of copyright protection.
The following year, HCO received funding from the European Union Intellectual Property Organization (EUIPO) in order to extend and enrich the activities run on the basis of the educational programme. This is how the ‘Greek Copyright School’ programme and the accompanying website were created.
In total, the activities of the ‘Greek Copyright School’ include five branches:
- Printing and distribution of informative material to schoolteachers and pupils (folders with guides about copyright and related rights, comic books and stickers).
- Organization of more seminars in more cities.
- Creation of a dynamic website to host all the informative material. This material is sorted according to the target audience (primary school students, high school students, school teachers, parents).
- Educational e-games.
- A short movie animation about the importance of copyright and related rights as a tool for the survival of authors and artists.
The aftermath of the activities carried out so far is very encouraging. During the school year 2014-2015, HCO organized four seminars in Athens, three in Crete (Iraklion, Chania, Aghios Nikolaos), two in Thessaloniki, and one in Rhodes, Lamia and Atalanti respectively. This year, in the framework of the ‘Greek Copyright School’ programme, seminars were held in Patra, Alexandroupoli, Xanthi, Larisa, Trikala, Mytilene, Pyrgos, Kalamata, Preveza and Ioannina. More than 1000 teachers participated in total whilst a large number of handbooks, comic books and stickers was distributed.
HCO recognises that education plays a key role in raising awareness about copyright protection. In this context, it will continue informing schoolteachers and pupils in the hope that the educational programme will be implemented in as many schools as possible. Your contribution to this effort is crucial.