Another 9-year primary school in the capital is being completely rebuilt, marking the 48th educational institution in Tirana to be transformed into a school worthy of European standards.
“Edith Durham,” one of the most prestigious schools in the capital, will welcome its students in the upcoming school year with an expanded infrastructure, which includes not only doubled classrooms but also spacious sports fields, a library, subject-specific teaching laboratories, and more.
To inspect the construction work on site, Prime Minister Edi Rama, together with the appointed Mayor of the Municipality Anuela Ristani, visited the school today.
“The ‘Edith Durham’ school, one of the proudest schools in the capital, opened in 1945, was reconstructed in 2003, and since then has not been expanded due to high demand. The student capacity here has been very large, with 36 students in two shifts. What we are doing is completely rebuilding it, starting from the ground level, which will house technical services, to the three levels above, where the classroom capacity will be doubled for the same number of students, eliminating the second shift entirely. This school also served as a reserve during the reconstruction of the nearby ‘Emin Duraku’ school. What will happen is that we are currently working on the first two buildings, and then we will proceed with the third one to complete this structure. What’s new is that, although the number of students won’t increase, everyone will attend in a single shift,” explained the appointed Mayor of the Municipality, Anuela Ristani, referring to the school’s project, displayed at the entrance of the construction site.
She further mentioned that the school facilities will also be used for community activities in the afternoon hours.
“The number of laboratories will be doubled. There will be laboratories for every subject: foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology. There will be two multifunctional halls for school activities, entrances for people with disabilities on the first level, as well as bathrooms that cater to people with disabilities and access to the gymnasium and multifunctional halls on the first level for the community. These spaces will also be available for use outside of school hours for community activities. We have the ‘School in the Community’ program, which we run, and besides children’s courses, there could also be courses for adults and other activities besides the gymnasium. The entrance will remain in its current location, and the courtyard will be opened up, so there won’t be a barrier like the one at ‘Sami Frashëri’ school, thus preventing the creation of a wall with the sidewalk. The standards, in fact, are very high, starting from the width of the corridors to the lighting of the classrooms. This school, like no other, has heating and air conditioning. Additionally, we have a system below where all services are located, such as water supply and fire prevention. There are three emergency exits for students in case of an emergency. There will be a special teachers’ room, and all the library spaces will be available. Like this classroom I’m showing you, there will be 33 others. If you look, the classrooms are designed to overlook the street and the courtyard,” Ristani detailed.
For his part, Prime Minister Rama praised the work done so far, emphasizing its high quality.
“You’ve done an excellent job here. The construction work is spectacular. It’s very clean and highly impressive. You’ve done a fantastic job. It’s very remarkable,” he addressed the builders.