Public educational institutions, shelters for sexual predators in Albania

CRCA / ECPAT Albania and ACE: We demand a thorough and thorough reform of the Ministry of Education!

Tirana, 12 February 2020 - CRCA / ECPAT Albania and Albanian Coalition for Education (ACE) are following with great concern the reporting that the STOP investigative show of KLAN Television did on the sexual assault by a teacher at a high school in Fier. During the show it was broadcasted all the ways in which the music teacher sought to sexually harass and molest a minor girl at the "James Xoxa" school.

CRCA / ECPAT Albania and Albanian Coalition for Education (ACE) notes with concern and indignation that this is neither the first nor the last case, in which media and investigative broadcasts manage to record the presence of sexual violence in our schools by sound and pictures, showing how children and pupils are unprotected from sexual predators.

There have been numerous cases of reports of child sexual abuse from teachers in public educational institutions. Not less than 10 days ago, the Court of Durrës issued a prison sentence for the 7 teenagers arrested for raping a minor at a school in Kavaja. In November 2019, a sentence was handed out to a teacher who sexually abused an 11-year-old student at Delvina's village school. In July 2019, the Court of Gjirokastra again with another case on a teacher's sexual assault on a pupil. In July 2019, another serious case of sexual assault on a minor girl on school premises in Arapaj, Durres, while in Tepelena, a 63-year-old teacher was charged with sexual harassment at school.

All of these cases, which have  occurred within such a short period of time, unfortunately show that the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth, and in particular the Minister, has not comprehended not only the high rate but also the spread of the phenomenon of sexual violence in public education institutions in the country! Our schools from learning environments are turning into shelters for pedophiles and sexual predators!

Given the latest case, CRCA / ECPAT Albania and Albanian Coalition for Education (ACE), requires to the Minister of Education, Besa Shahini, to answer publicly the following questions:

1. Although there are so many cases of sexual violence against children and adolescents inside public education environments in one year, what are the measures and solutions taken by the Minister of Education herself to protect them?
2. What new mechanisms has the current Minister of Education created to report any suspected or proven cases of violence and sexual harassment against children?
3. What measures have been proposed by Minister Shahini to Dismiss all teachers who attempt or commit sexual crimes against students and children.

CRCA / ECPAT Albania and Albanian Coalition for Education (ACE), based on this seemingly recurring grave event, will urgently request a parliamentary hearing session with the presence of the Minister of Education Shahini, to report to MPs, civil society, parents , teachers and children on how it is possible that sexual predators are already increased in Albanian public schools.