10,000 Fewer Students

10,000 Fewer Students

This year saw enrollments in pre-university education reduce by about 10,000 in comparison to one year ago. This data comes from Education Minister, Besa Shahini, who issued a statement refuting media reports that enrollments had decreased more significantly.

“The figures you reported yesterday are inaccurate and partial. You reported that there are 380,000 students in pre-university education.

 “In total, enrollments in pre-university education excluding vocational education are 455,000 students.

“If we include vocational education, the numbers go up to about 480 thousand students.

"However, it should be noted that the numbers for vocational education are currently being collated by the Ministry of Finance. By the end of this week, we will reconcile the numbers and confirm the final number of enrollments for the new school year.

“We assume that compared to last year, we would have 10,000 students less and not 100 thousand less as has been reported,” said Minister Shahini.

Shahini says the phenomenon of reducing student numbers began long ago and did not arise during Rama's rule. According to her, the entire Balkan region is suffering from decreasing student number trends, with some countries seeing rates decrease at a level several times higher than in Albania.

“I would like to emphasize that a decline in the number of students in schools is not a phenomenon of recent years, nor is it exclusively an Albanian phenomenon.

“From year to year, Albania has had 10,000-20,000 fewer students throughout the pre-university system, including pre-school, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary.

“The descending trend began back in 1992, continued with the same intensity under the DP government during the years 2005-2013, and still continues today.

“The downward trend is related to a decline in birth rates, which is an issue that affects all of Southeastern Europe, including the Balkans,” said Shahini.

Besa Shahini announced that, this year, the Ministry of Education will announce the call for the development of books and didactic tools for both preparatory and preschool classes.

EMISIONET