TEXTBOOKS IN ALBANIAN AND REDUNDACIES

21. August 2012.

Tomislav Simonovic, the Head of school administration for the Jablanica and Pcinj districts, said that textbooks in Albanian for children from the first to the fourth grade were already in the press and that they would be ready by the beginning of the school year.

“Students from the first to the fourth grade will receive free textbooks this school year, too, while the project is funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, while for students coming from ethnic minorities, such as the Albanian one, textbooks will be printed in their mother tongue," Mr. Simonovic said.

He added that an analysis of the project of free textbooks for students from the first to the fourth grade would be conducted this year, which is supposed to determine the positive or negative sides of the project.

“I think that the Ministry will continue with this project, because it helps a great deal the parents that are short of funds, as well as those who are on the edge of poverty, "Mr. Simonovic said.

Mr. Simonovic warned of the problem of redundancies in schools in the Jablanica and Pcinj districts due to the decreasing number of children.

“There are 180 teachers on the redundancy list. The surplus of teachers appears to be the greatest problem, because eight schools reported redundant teachers, "Mr. Simonovic said.
He added that the problem of surplus teachers couldn’t be solved by retiring them, because very few of them are supposed to retire this school year.

Mr. Simonovic also said that there was a lack of students and that there was no rule which schools enrolled fewer students, the urban or rural ones.

“We simply don’t have enough children. There are 200 fewer first-grade students in the territory of Leskovac this school year. Last year we didn’t have a problem with urban schools, but with smaller ones, which have four to five students, and we were in a dilemma whether to close them or allow them to continue working. Now, the number of students in urban schools is also reduced, "said Mr. Simonovic.

He pointed out that there were also difficulties with the condition of school buildings.
“Based on the information and reports from the field, a large number of schools aren’t ready for the beginning of the school year. The financial situation is very critical. The operation of 13 schools from the school administration area is blocked. The local self-governments don’t regularly fulfill their obligations towards the schools. Many schools will start the school year in the conditions under which they finished the last school year. The directors have a problem with a lack of funds, they can’t borrow them, while the suppliers won’t wait for them to pay, "said Mr. Simonovic, who hoped that the situation would change for the better just before the beginning of the school year.