Based on the same survey, whose findings are corroborated by the UNHCR Inter agency Protection Monitoring Tool in Greece,1099 the main obstacle in finding employment for both applicants and beneficiaries of international protection was correlated with the lack of opportunities to skill up competences and learn Greek. According to the social service of GCR there is a significant gap in Greek language programs for applicants and beneficiaries of international protection, which is covered, as far as possible, free of charge by non-governmental organisations. Adding to this, there are no practically accessible workshops or on-the-job trainings by the Greek Public Employment Service (DYPA 1100), which further limits applicants’ prospects of acquiring employment in Greece. The sole exception has been the HELIOS programme (see the relevant section on Content of International Protection - Housing),1101 which however focuses on beneficiaries of international protection, providing integration courses, including 280 hours of the Greek language. Also, according to the data provided by UNHCR, the primary problem in accessing the labour market identified by the respondents-asylum applicants (61, i.e., 76%) is Greek language competence.1102 When it comes to opportunities for vocational training, both Articles 17(1) L 4540/2018 and Article 58 (1) Asylum Code provide that applicants can access vocational training programmes under the same conditions and prerequisites as foreseen for Greek nationals. However, the law does not take into consideration the significantly different circumstances faced by asylum applicants, and in particular, the fact that they may not be in a position to provide the necessary documentation (e.g., certificate of completion of primary school). 1103 Article 58 (2) Asylum Code provides that the conditions for assessing the skills of applicants who do not have the necessary documentation will be set by a Joint Ministerial Decision of the Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs, Education and Religious Affairs and Migration and Asylum. As far as GCR is aware such a decision had not been issued by the end of 2024. As in previous years,1104 asylum applicants have also continued facing obstacles in opening bank accounts. Based on data collected through the abovementioned ongoing survey conducted under the coordination of UNHCR, as part of which 107 asylum applicant households (fully registered, pre-registered and unregistered while willing to apply for asylum) were reached between February 2022 and March 2024, 62% of respondents did not have a bank account, with main causes relating to procedural challenges, including, in 10 out of 107 cases, their request being declined, though in 16 out of 107 cases respondents stated they did not wish or need a bank account. 1105 On the other hand, based on the same survey, issuance of a VAT verification number (AFM) seems to have been somewhat streamlined in recent years, with 87% of applicants stating they had been able to obtain said number, even though 35% of respondents reported that they required support in order to be able to issue it. 2. Access to education Indicators: Access to Education 1. Does the law provide for access to education for asylum-seeking children? 2. Are children able to access education in practice? Yes Yes No No Not always According to Article 55 of the Asylum Code, asylum-seeking children are required to attend primary and secondary public school under similar conditions as Greek nationals. Children from the age of four are also required to attend pre-primary school. Compulsory education includes pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education. Pre-primary (Nipiagogio) lasts two years, primary education (Dimotiko) lasts six years and lower secondary education (Gymnasio) lasts three years. 1106 The majority of children continue 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 Ibid.and UNHCR’s monitoring tool, available here, with results filtered from 1/1/2024 to 31/12/2024 and status “asylum seekers”. In previous AIDA reports on Greece the same service was referred to as OAED, as this service was called until 2022 when it changed with L 4921/2022 (OGG 75 A’ 18-04-2022) to DYPA. See Content of international protection. See UNHCR, Inter-Agency Protection Monitoring for Refugees in Greece: Key findings, available at: https://bit.ly/43dZsuK. GCR, Observations on the Draft Law transposing the Reception Directive, 31 October 2016, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/42sh0Cb. For more, inter alia see AIDA, Country Report Greece: 2022 Update, available at: https://bit.ly/3PUOVk9, pp. 185-186. See UNHCR, Inter-Agency Protection Monitoring for Refugees in Greece: Key findings, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3z6t3y9f. For the data presented in this paragraph filters have been used, in order to only include the data arising from the surveys carried out with households that were clearly still in the asylum procedure or were waiting for their application to be registered. Article 88 of L 4871/2021, which modified Article 2 of L 1566/1985. 204