Canva signs agreement to provide education tools across Greek schools

Greece’s Ministry of Education has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canva to give primary and secondary school students and teachers access to Canva’s educational tools

Duncan Clark and Sofia Zacharaki at Panathēnea in Athens, where Canva and Greece’s Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports signed an agreement covering primary and secondary schools. Image credit: Sofia Zacharaki / LinkedIn

Greece’s Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canva to provide free access to Canva’s full suite of educational tools across primary and secondary schools in Greece.

The agreement was signed publicly during Panathēnea in Athens by Sofia Zacharaki, Greece’s Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, and Duncan Clark, Managing Director EMEA at Canva and CEO of Pro Design.

The partnership covers primary and secondary school students and teachers across Greece. Zacharaki said the agreement includes an implementation roadmap, but further details on timing, training, school onboarding, or technical deployment were not disclosed in the LinkedIn posts announcing the signing.

The deal gives Canva a national education partnership in Greece and places creative design, digital literacy, and visual communication tools into the country’s school system. For Greece’s Ministry of Education, it adds a private sector digital learning provider to its work with schools.

Panathēnea, where the signing took place, is a not-for-profit technology, art, and startup festival in Athens run by students and recent graduates. The event includes talks, exhibitions, startup pitching, networking, and city-wide events.

Canva partnership signed in Athens

Zacharaki wrote on LinkedIn: "What a real pleasure to sign this Memorandum of Understanding with Canva during the Panathēnea event in Athens and to launch a partnership that will provide free access to Canva’s full suite of educational tools across our primary and secondary schools."

She added: "Yes this collaboration does reflect a shared belief: that creativity, digital literacy and visual communication are no longer optional skills—they are essential competencies for the future."

Zacharaki thanked Duncan Clark and the Canva team for their work on the agreement, and said the process moved quickly from initial discussions to a signed agreement and implementation roadmap.

Clark wrote: "What a massive honour to do a public signing just now with Sofia Zacharaki, Greece's Minister of Education, to launch a partnership that will provide Canva's full suite of tools to every primary and secondary school student and teacher across the country."

He added: "Thank you Sofia and team for your trust and startup-like dynamism, and for helping unlock visual creativity for a whole generation!"

Panathēnea hosts public signing

The signing took place during Panathēnea, a week-long Athens event built around technology, art, and startups. The festival describes its structure as combining morning keynotes, workshops, and a startup pitching competition with afternoon and evening networking and city-wide programming.

Clark said the agreement was signed at Panathēnea, which he described as a technology gathering in Athens spearheaded by Lars Rasmussen. He also took part in a fireside discussion with Mike Butcher about Canva, Flourish, and scaling startups, and joined a Debate House public debate on whether AI will kill creativity.

Panathēnea says its mission is to unite creators through technology, art, and startups, with a focus on celebration, connection, and competition. On a national level, Panathēnea says it is working to accelerate Greece’s startup ecosystem, position Athens as an innovation hub, and cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset.

The Greece-Canva agreement now moves to implementation. Neither the Ministry of Education nor Canva disclosed the rollout schedule, number of schools covered, or training arrangements in the posts announcing the deal.