“We thought of coming here, because we wanted to kick off the new school year and wish good luck to pupils throughout Albania from the school “Ismail Qemali” which is the most outstanding school, as the State Matura has shown and as it has been shown thanks to those who just concluded it, but also thanks to you who will continue studying here. The school has lived up to its reputation of the days of yore, by being a model school and a point of reference for all.
Just as the Principal and the Minister said, the school “Ismail Qemali” has been chosen among other pilot schools to become a community centre. So, it will not only be about coming and staying in class, listen to teachers and give account on the knowledge acquired, but it will also be about continuing with the social activity beyond the school hours thus transforming the school environment into a space where besides learning, students will share a common social, artistic, cultural and sport life. I believe you know that physical education activity will be reintegrated in the program of study. There will be three hours per week that will help you move more and move together, experiencing also the great pleasure sport can give when practiced in company.
We are also preparing a program to encourage students’ own ideas and initiatives for community-based activities. This means that all those who have ideas and join together to present initiatives and take advantage of this program of support, either moral or financial, from the Ministry of Education, will receive support based on the value of their ideas and initiatives.
So, I believe that you and all those who start school this year, students of any grade, will see that if you have an idea and prove it is an idea worth of support, you will find support.
Of course, we are not content with what has been achieved so far. We are very encouraged from the results of the State Matura, but we are convinced that there is still a lot to be done. We have just started another part of the reform for teachers with the intent to have teachers’ profile match with school hours in a time frame as short as possible, because unfortunately there are a lot of schools and cases throughout Albania where teachers of biology teach geography, teachers of geography teach music, teachers of chemistry teach languages and so on. Not to mention those who try to teach physical education and who could teach anything but physical education.
Finally, we are advancing at a fast pace in relation of the project for introducing new technology into schools. I believe that the school “Ismail Qemali” is among the schools that will enter the first phase of the project to transition from books to digital learning. This technology has its benefits, but there are also some annoyances. Parents will be connected online and the moment you do not show up in class, they will be informed that you are not in class so that you will not be able to say actually I was in class but teacher didn’t see me. Or the moment you receive a mark, your parents will learn it immediately through their cell phones and you cannot tell them I do not know what mark I received, because they will know it before you make it to the front door of your houses. But these are annoyances that you have to go through, and you cannot do anything about it.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama chose the general high school “Ismail Qemali” in Tirana to wish 540 thousand students throughout Albania a successful school year.
The school “Ismail Qemali” is among the schools with a long tradition of success, as recent results of the State Matura have shown.
“This school has given more “As” compared to other schools throughout Albania, and has been ranked first in mathematics in the State Matura exams. I know that this school has prepared and continues to prepare talents in various fields. We are by your side to help you achieve success and only success, “- Minister Nikolla said.
On this day, the Prime Minister addressed a special greeting to 35 thousand teachers throughout the country. In a conversation with the teaching staff of “Ismail Qemali”, the Prime Minister assured they will have constant attention in order to successfully fulfill their mission as carriers of knowledge and values but also as an important part of the modernization reform in education in Albania.
Prime Minister Rama and Minister Nikolla visited classrooms and chatted with students. Meanwhile, according to tradition on this day, teachers with high scores received bouquets of flowers by the Prime Minister.
“We hadn’t given flowers on September 1st for ages, and finally we satisfied this great nostalgia for the times that do not return by bringing these bouquets of flowers to teachers who outnumber the years we hadn’t brought flowers, since we finished school. But even for a much stronger reason than this, it is really a moment to express respect for the staff of teachers in this school, because it is the school that has had the best results in the State Matura, real results and not fictitious results. This shows that the work of the teaching staff has been really a quality work. At the same time, this is the moment to express, through you, respect for all those teachers across Albania who try seriously to provide students with knowledge and ask them to go ahead, on the path of knowledge”- the Prime Minister said.
While talking about a salient issue in education, such as teachers teaching subjects that do not match their specialization, the Prime Minister stressed that matching teachers’ profiles with the teaching process is one aspect of this reform.
“We strongly want to rely on you and on all serious and skilled teachers in order to turn a page of history that, as you know well, has been full of turmoil and troubles. We want to make the beginning of this year the beginning of an effort that, I believe, will take us to successful and quick results, so that no teacher will teach outside their profile. This way, the whole teaching process will be an authentic one, since we will not have any more – as we still have and you know it better than I – teachers who teach subjects that do not comply with their profile, thus teaching nothing” – the Prime Minister said. In addition, he was confident that the reform is multidimensional and will touch even more, even deeper “the wounds of the whole educational system, in order to cure them properly and heal them once and for all.”
