TIRANA, September 12 – Some 12 new schools opened their doors to welcome the capital’s children on the first day of school on Monday, Prime Minister Edi Rama has said.
Rama made that announcement as the new school year started in Albania on Monday.
About 450,000 students of whom 29,000 will sit for the first time in school benches started the new school- year 2022-2023 in all institutions of pre-university education in Albania. According to media reports, this figure is lower than the previous year because the depopulation of this Balkan country continues and its population keeps shrinking.
Prime Minister Edi Rama published the list of schools rebuilt from scratch in a post on social networks claiming that the gymnasium “Sami Frashëri” is the cherry on the cake, where 1500 students will learn.
“The “Sami Frashëri” gymnasium is the cherry on the cake in the collection of schools built for the new school- year in the list of 12 new schools built from scratch in Tirana,” said Rama.
He listed all the schools name by name also providing information about the number of students attending each school in the capital.
But the spokesperson of the Democratic Party (DP), Floriana Garo, said on Monday that “the new school- year 2022-2023 starts with worse conditions than before”.
“This year starts with 226,000 fewer students in 15 years. This year starts after over 700 schools, of all levels, have been closed throughout the country, while 90% of the country’s schools are without heating and running water, while funds are stolen and schools are built with 4-5 million euros, that is, 7-8 times higher than in Europe,” said Garo. According to her, “the school- year starts in conditions where 150,000 students will learn in shifts, and over 50,000 students will learn in collective classes.” /Argumentum.al
