Civil society presents to the new minister of education its recommendations for improving the conditions of child education

Tirana 1 October 2013 - Albanian Coalition for Child Education (ACCE), facilitated today a meeting of civil

society organizations that work for child education with the new Minister of Education Mrs. Lindita Nikolla. The meeting aimed to establish a sustainable dialogue between the civil society and the Ministry of Education, on the issues related to child education, while provide recommendations for improving the current situation. The main issues discussed during the meeting were related to:

• Prevention of violence in schools and increase of emotional wellbeing of children. It requires “zero violence “in the schools environment and the development of specific codes of conduct for teachers and students;
• Special attention to Roma children by the imposition of quotas, providing school meals and involvement of children in preparatory classes,
• Coordinating all educational institutions in the context of decentralization and strengthening of local government,
• Providing free textbooks for the category of children in need,
• Strengthening of psycho-social support services in schools across the country;
• Improve curricula through the culture of anti-discrimination and diversity and further work with alter text.

The participants discussed also other sensitive issues such as children in blood feud, establishment of mechanisms of support and case management by the schools through strengthening their internal structures etc. Other topics examined in this meeting were school dropout, elimination of segregation of Roma children in some schools, teachers’ training on regular basis, and reinforcement of parents and students’ council structures in order to facilitate and increase the process of decision-making. The meeting emphasized the need to increase budget for education and minimization of school dropouts.

The vice Minister of Education Mr. Arbi Mazniku, presented some of the MES’s priorities. The initial efforts of the Ministry relate to the overall evaluation of the children and teachers’ progress at national level. He announced that various inspections against violence and discrimination are in progress. The long-term perspective includes the review of school-text implementation of further reforms on education, gradual decentralization and reallocation and reorganization of schools in territories where there is more need.

For more information, please contact the coordinators of Albanian Coalition for Child Education, erinda.ibrahimllari@crca.al; lindapino@hotmail.it or phone +355 4 24226.