Hasan Vogli and Qazim Turdiu schools are two educational institutions being built back larger, safer, more resilient to serve also as community centres after sustaining serious structural damages due to the November 26 devastating earthquake. Construction of the two new schools is scheduled to complete ahead of the next school year. The educational facilities are designed to meet highest standards for habitability and contemporary education with totally renovated and modern spaces, including labs and sports grounds, as well as auditoriums.

Prime Minister Edi Rama Edi Rama, accompanied by Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj and the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj, toured the construction sites of the two schools to closely inspect progress of the construction work. Hasan Vogli nine-year school was the first stop.

“The number of pupils due to attend this school will grow to over 900 from 600 pupils previously, or up by 50 percent. Construction of entire civil and heavy structure has completed. Construction of whole facility is scheduled to complete in July and we will then deal with cleaning, furnishing and giving the final touches to the new school. Depending on the decision by the Technical Committee of experts on opening the next school year, we will be ready in September. We have introduced the auditorium concept in the newly-built schools, just like we did with the concerts hall at the Artistic Lyceum and other schools in Tirana,” Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj said.

With the rehabilitation of the premises for the preschoolers, we will now focus on rehabilitation of the kindergartens, still a problem for the newly-formed families and which will be ultimately tackled under the new education programme.

“A total of 30 kindergartens in Tirana Municipality are annually included in the bonus incentive programme, meaning that a total of 120 kindergartens will be part of the programme within next four years, fully addressing the request of the families,” State Minister for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj said.

Work to construct Qazim Turidiu school has entered an advanced stage and the new educational facility is set to open doors to its students and teachers with its increased capacity in September. “The school’s capacity has doubled in size to over 600 from 300 pupils previously,” Veliaj said.

The new school, which being constructed from scratch, will serve not only its pupils and teachers, but also local residents, who will be able to access it as a community centre after teaching hours, a concept applied to many other educational capacities in the capital.

This school, just like any other educational facility being built, will house also a gym and dedicated lab environment. The ongoing investments in education system will finally put an end to the schools overcrowding running two shifts.