Aikaterini Laskaridou

Aikaterini Laskaridou (1842–1916) was a Greek feminist and educator who created the kindergarten system in Greece and introduced physical exercise into the girls' schools.

Biography Laskaridou was born Aikaterini Christomanou in Vienna to Meleniki Konstantinos A. Christomanos and Maria Kazassi in 1842. She attended the Vienna Academy for teacher training studying from 1842 to 1855. She married Laskaris Laskaridis, a wealthy merchant from Bursa in 1858, and they mostly lived in Athens. There, in 1864 she founded the Greek Girls' School. She trained and worked as a teacher in the Athen's Hill's School going on to become the school's director working there from 1865 to 1867). Then in 1867 she created the Hellenic Girls' School with Kalliopi Kehajia where she remained until 1887. Laskaridou was president of the Education Department of the Union of Greek Women. She worked with the Gymnastics Association to operate the first Gymnastics in Schools. Within this role she worked to create the Teaching of Kindergarten Teachers and the Gymnastics School for Girls. went on to become a notable artist and Eirini Laskaridou was born in 1882. Eirini founded the House of the Blind in Kallithea and introduced the Braille reading method for the blind in Greece. Laskaridou was awarded the Silver Cross for her work. She died in Athens in a car accident in 1916.