established by Directive 2008/115 are to take place corresponds to a gradation of the measures to be taken in order to enforce the return decision, a gradation which goes from the measure which allows the person concerned the most liberty, namely granting a period for his voluntary departure, to measures which restrict that liberty the most, namely detention.188 • T he key question therefore for the administrative deten- tion of third-country nationals, both at the Pre-removal Centers, as mentioned above, and the police cells, as well as with regard to the status of restriction on the islands, is whether the existing trend for its expansion in the end of 2016, in addition to exceeding the proportionality in the restriction of personal liberty, also reveals the ineffectiveness of the machinery of state. The detention of minors is a typical symptom of the system’s failure to respond to the applications to accommodation hostels. This is added to the tendency of exhausting the initial six months of the detention in Pre-removal Centers for return, without the due diligence of implementing the forced removal, as stipulated by law. The overcrowding and friction with local communities at the hotspots are also due to the fact that nearly a year after the entry into force of the EU-Turkey Statement, the first reception, asylum and appeal procedures on the islands are based in principle on detention due to delays. It is characteristic that the first person from Syria to appeal at the Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’Etat), against a decision of the new Appeals Committees, which found his application for asylum in Greece inadmissible, is detained since September 2016 at the Police Station cells of Lesvos,189 in conditions that do not coincide with the reception requirements of asylum seekers according to the relevant EU Directive but neither with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. 2. Access to education Assuring in practice the established by international law190 right of minors to unobstructed access to education, was a particular challenge for the Greek State, since, according to a general estimate, the minors amount to more than 188 CJEU El Dridi, C-61/11 PPU, 28.4.2011. 189 He is still being detained up to the time of the completion of this report (March 2017). 190 Article 28 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (Law 2101/1992). 1/3 of the foreign population that has entered the country in massive numbers over the past two years.191 Therefore, also bearing in mind the rapid increase of the refugee and migrant populations in mid-2015, both the difficulty and the importance of the response of the Greek State to the relevant obligation becomes clear. In particular, the Ombudsman came to the following conclusions that pertain to the two-year period under review: The exercise of the right to education of children from third countries including children on the move, was implemented during the 20152016 period with significant shortages and obstacles. As a general rule however, we highlight the effort of the Greek State to respond to particularly demanding circumstances and educational needs that are frequently changing. 2.1. The exercise of the right of children from third countries to education during the 2015-2016 period The increased inflow of mainly migrant populations over the past decades - without however the massiveness and intensity of the past two years - had allowed the gradual adaptation of the legislative framework192 and, in particular, had prepared to a certain degree the educational system to respond to requests for access to school by foreign children with the development of tools, such as the Reception Classes of Educational Priority Zones, placement exams and the intercultural education system. On this basis, minors, refugees and migrants, who for any reason remained in Greece and did not continue on their journey to other European states, were integrated, without serious problems during 2015 and in early 2016. The change in the circumstances from March 2016, marked, inter alia, the consolidation of the presence in the country of a large number of minors, who had crossed or were crossing the Greek borders with or without their families, and could not continue on their journey to the countries of their destination. Therefore, the Greek State was invited 191 It is indicatively mentioned that the total number of children that arrived in year 2016, is estimated at approximately 64,000, at between 37-38% of the total arrivals in the same year (Sources: UNHCR, Regional Bureau Europe, Refugees’ & Migrants’ Sea Arrivals In Europe, Monthly Data Update: September 2016, UNICEF, Refugee and Migrant Children in Greece, as of 31 December 2016). 192 See relevant legislation that expressly stipulated that: “Minor third country nationals, who reside in Greece, are subject to compulsory school attendance, as do Greeks”, allowing in fact their enrolment by exception, even if they are missing supporting documents (Law 3386/2005, Article 72, as amended and in force with Article 21 of Law 4251/2015). 61