On the small island of Agios Efstratios, until the last years of the Ottoman period, there was no organized educational system for the youth. The first signs of educational activity can be traced to the last quarter of the 19th century. Just like in Lemnos, in Agios Efstratios, the initiative for the first schools was taken by the church and the dedicated community of expatriate residents from Egypt, who willingly donated their money to improve the living conditions of their homeland.
Thanks to the funds and donations from the Brotherhood of “Agios Efstratios” in Egypt, the first primary school of the island operated around 1892 (possibly even earlier, from 1875). The school register preserves the names of its first teachers, with the first teacher being Panagiotis Triantafyllidis from Samos, who served as the school’s educator for four years (1893-1896). The majority of the teachers who followed were locals.
The finances of the school were supported both by fees imposed on the island’s exportable products and by fees that the students were required to pay. Additionally, a Six-Member Ecclesiastical Committee operated as a supplementary body, frequently communicating with the Castle (Myrina) in Limnos. Through credit, the committee secured books for the school and its students, accumulating significant amounts of debt, which were alleviated by sponsors and donors.
At the turn of the century, Porphyrios II Logothetis, who was then the priest of the Greek community in Paris, encouraged the (national benefactor) Grigorios Maraslis to contribute to the construction of a new school on the island. The donations from the two (1600 gold Napoleons from Logothetis and 500 gold twenty-franc coins from Maraslis) led to the completion of the new school building in 1909, which was named the “Marasleios and Logotheteios School” in their honor.
The grand architectural structure that housed the school continued its operation (during the civil war, the school was also used as a prison for political prisoners) until 1968, when the major earthquake that struck the island rendered it unsuitable for use. For this reason, a new building was designated as the school building in 1969, and the “Marasleios and Logotheteios” school ceased its operations. In the first decade of the 21st century, necessary restoration work was carried out on the building in order to preserve the school, which is still considered a landmark of the island today.
