Pupovci criticises education in Kosovo, also talks of Enver Hasani's sentence

Pupovci for AKA, said there have been irregularities since the day of the establishment of this board, and all of this has been the result of the political impact on this agency.

On the other hand, UP's plagiarism and the Edguard Institute's report on education issues say that all this impunity against plagiarists has created a comfort in them, and especially where these persons take high positions, a fight of this phenomenon cannot be expected.

Pupovci has also cited the conviction of former UPP sector Enver Hasani, naming it minimal. He's named the whole time he was a proctor with multiple violations in college.

As for the area of education in general, Pupovci said improvement should not be initiated by the quality of teaching in schools, accountability, adding that raising non-needed salaries brings improvements if not accompanied by increased accountability.

You can read the full interview below:

Blic newspaper: How did the dismissal of the Accreditation Agency and the appointment of the new Board comment? What do you think will change the work of this board with the new members? Do you think that the individuals assigned to the top of this Agency will improve the situation in the education sector?

Dukagjin Pupovci: Moments for the dismissal of members of the National Council of Quality have remained unclear. Surely, there have been many irregularities in the work of the Accrediting Agency that, primarily, are linked to violating the criteria in case of accreditation. These irregularities date from the Agency's founding day and, largely, have occurred as a result of policy pressure on the Agency. Meanwhile, the agency had recently begun to demonstrate little more determination to comply with quality criteria and dismissal occurred just when a significant number of programmes for non-fulfillment of minimum criteria were suspended.

In the new composition of the National Council of Quality, I don't see any value added in relation to the preliminary composition, and I don't expect better performance from this compound if political pressure continues on the Agency as it has so far.

The law envisions that appointed KKC members should be ratified by the Parliament and, likewise, that more than 1/3 of the members should be reported when more than 1/3 are dismissed within a year. These legal requirements are not random, and their goal is to minimize political influence on the work of the KKC. Therefore, I hope that debate will be opened in the Assembly on the dismissal of old composition and the appointment of the new KKC composition.

Blic newspaper: A report by the Edguard Institute has been published in the media that about 40 percent of UP professors have used plagiarism in their works. How did you comment on the situation in UP, besides lack of texts, there is plagiarism? What exactly should be done in this regard?

Dukagjin Pupovci: I can't comment on Edgood's report, since I haven't had a chance to see it. There have been reports in the media already argued about plagiarization and fraud by academic staff, but until now, no action has been taken against the perpetrators of these ugly acts. This has contributed to the creation of a culture of impunity that encourages others to go that way without coping with the consequences and not only that. We have cases of people who are involved in plagiarism and fraud taking high public positions, both in university and other institutions, and cannot be expected of them to fight the negative phenomenon in which they themselves are involved.

Blic newspaper: On the other hand, former UPI Rector Enver Hasani has been sentenced to 1 year in prison on bail regarding the contract to translate books from English into Albanian for Pristina University? What do you think of this case? Is this one of the contributing factors in the bad state of the UP?

Dukagjin Pupovci: The Court's decision is not final, but the fact is that the former sector has been pronounced the minimum sentence the Criminal Code provides for this work. I think this speaks of reducing the justice system in Kosovo, as it is difficult to find any extenuating circumstances when the blame for such a work is announced to the man who is entrusted with high public office and, in addition, is a jurist with fame and professor of justice. It is evident that our justice system is not prepared to be treated with merit, with high profiles.

Despite this, I personally think Enver Hasani has been a bad solution to the university's reactor. His mandate has been marked by numerous legal violations, flagrant arbitrism and cultivation of a non-recognitional tribal culture. The numerous scandals that caused them during the rector's mandate apparently served as a reference to being elected chairman of the Constitutional Court. It seems that politics required just one for the Constitution guard, as the goal was not to preserve the Constitution, but to find opportunities for abuse with the Constitution for achieving political goals.

Blic newspaper: What is the situation with education in general in Kosovo? What can be improved, and what should be done in the years to come?

Dukagjin Pupovci: It is good that we have begun to compare ourselves with the world, and people are aware of the poor state of education. Key problems involve quality, a very broad concept. I think more attention should be given, because here we have shown very poor results about 77% of 15-year-old students have no minimum reading dexterity, which means they have learning problems and everyday jobs. Then the quality of teaching should be improved in schools, especially by making better use of technology. We're a country where 80% of the population has access to the Internet, so it's not reasonable that the Internet is not used for teaching in schools. Textbooks need thorough revision and adaptation.

Another important aspect is accountability, which is lacking in our educational system. The municipalities are responsible for school performance, while the Ministry of Education is responsible for the state of the country's education system. I can't get through without comment the failure of a school in my senior exam. Of course, for us to have a faithful outcome, the Ministry must improve the examination management. If cheating and cheating are tolerated at the senior exam, then we will get completely wrong results and, instead of learning, they will spend time preparing copies, while teachers will not give their best to work with them. Parents too will be glad that their children pass the exam, even without merit, so they will not seek responsibility from school. Imagine what mobilization would be if everyone knew that on the senior exam it couldn't be copied. It's the role of the country to make this happen.

Last year the Kosovo government has approved a 5-year strategic plan for the development of education in Kosovo. This plan is comprehensive, and it also envisions the budget costs that must be made. It takes a lot of commitment to implement the plan, and that's what's missing. If it doesn't apply, systematically, what is planned, then things are going to be steady and it doesn't result in improvement, but with worsening of the situation. The wage increases, which are common, promised during the election campaign, do not bring improvements unless they are accompanied by increased accountability. This is obviously in the last 10 years.