All you need to know about weeklong student uprising in Albania

Student Protests, which has already been gripping the country's capital and other major cities for a week, there is no question that they should be seen and analyzed in a much deeper context than that of dissatisfaction with university tariffs and difficult infrastructure conditions in audiences and dormitories, estimates opinionist Armand Shkullaku from Tirana.

This analysis comes after a week of unbroken protests by students of the University of Albania, who are demanding lowering study fees and improving quality in higher schooling.

Responding to Radio Free Europe's questions, according to Mr. Shkullaku, mass student protests, probably the first of its kind for participation and duration in the last 25 years, more than a pressure on the government to meet certain concrete conditions is a revolt against the system in general, which, according to him, has long since not only students but also other areas of population represent them.

“More than for schooling fees, young people are on the streets today in the name of their uncertain future, the poor level of education, the replacement of meritocracy by the partisans, the loss of any ideals, hopes and dreams to live with dignity in this country”, Shkullaku says.

He adds that students are on the street even in the name of their parents, who he says are bent on taxes and high prices, powerless to react to injustice, lost “to the power of the fittest, the richest, the most gangster”.

“They are also on the street as a revolt against the humiliation of their knowledge and ideals, because they are condemned to be ruled by ignorant, criminals, thieves and disabled, who in the name of seized votes have also won the right to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of Albanians”, Shkullaku estimates.

Saying that Albania's students do not feel themselves part of a democratic society, where and they have voice in the chapter, they have the chance to restore denied freedom.

Young people today may still not be able to embellish their frustration with this breathing system, but they are certain to feel so much injustice and therefore their protest is powerful without the support of politics. They have the responsibility of retaliating even in the name of their parents, who were transformed by the system as free and dignified people, with the pressure of the workplace and the daily bread”, he says.

Since last week Thousands of students have expressed dissatisfaction theirs, related to the high cost of studies at public universities and the quality of education, through protest in Tirana.

After several attempts to ease tensions, including the promise to cut the remaining exam fees, Prime Minister Rama has been directly linked to the social Facebook network on Monday to talk to students, through the questions they address about the government.

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The participating students in the protest have refused any kind of negotiations with the government, insisting on meeting their demands.

Mr. Shkullaku believes these protests will continue and will be even stronger. According to him, the prime minister fulfilled much of the conditions, but this is not a matter of tariffs, but a question of confidence in the system that Albanian politicians have established, and especially the organisation of “Renaissance”.

This trust has long been broken and cannot be raised with the fulfillment of certain conditions, or with touching speeches ala Fidel Castro of the prime minister. Government abuse has reached its peak, now it is the order of civic reaction”, he said.

He also estimates that this is the first “actor to wake up”, and he believes this will be a process that will definitely require new political solutions and “not simply in changing certain figures into power chairs, but reforming the only system”.

In response to the protest Thursday, the Ministry of Education agreed to lift the fees for the passed exams, as well as constantly, along with the prime minister, have invited students for a dialogue to find common solutions.

The schooling fees at Albania's state university are considered to be among the highest in the region and Europe in terms of public schooling.

Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe with GDP of $4.868 per capita, while according to the World Bank in 2017, it was spent in education 2.49% of GDP, which is below the European average. / REL/