Progress in the Field of Education

While Progress Report for 2017 has found that Kosovo has not noted any progress in the field of education, since it has been estimated that no progress has been made in improving the quality of education and addressing skills gaps in the labour market, connoisseurs blame the Ministry of Education and other relevant organs.

EU Office chief Natalia Apostolova, on the occasion of presenting the Progress Report, has said the state of education in Kosovo is not at all in a good situation, while adding that the need to improve this situation is urgent.

“As far as education is concerned, it remains absolutely necessary to improve the quality of education, which is a major driver of competition and long-term growth. A new law on higher education and further efforts on curriculum reforms including the VET remains needed, with the aim of a reform based on better standards, including ensuring autonomy and the independent functioning of higher education institutions and quality security mechanisms”, Apostolova has said.

The expert on education issues, Dukagjin Pupovci, in a proposal for KosovaPress, has said the findings of the Progress Report have been expected, as the Government has brought plans it has not adhered to.

He says the findings of this report are more than real.

I think this is a real conclusion because the Progress Report compares us to plans that the Government itself has brought and which it has not adhered to. It is quite accurate that there has been very little work in the field of education. It has been the year of two parties. This may be the other reason, but it's no excuse for that, and so I think the Progress Report is really showing us what we know from”, Pupovci noted.

For such a situation, the connoisseur of education issues says the greatest responsibility remains over August, and then the municipal education authorities.

“Surely the greatest responsibility falls on the head, on the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, which during 2017, a long period has been in the atmosphere of elections, originally national, then local, but also falls on the municipal education authorities, the institutions of higher education, so they all share responsibility because it shows that what has been planned has not been realised during this year<1>, he said.

Even Kosovo Parliament deputy Ismail Kurteshi has said the main blame on the country's institutions, until he has added that education since the post-war has not progressed but has only stalled and degraded.

And I think that even this report, even the situation that we're looking at every day, is enough factors that should move us all to change the situation in education. The situation in education is not good at all, and for that we are guilty of the institutions of Kosovo, especially education institutions such as the Ministry of Education, the Education Inspectorate, the Education Commission, the Education Directorates in the municipalities, the mayors of municipalities who appoint political directors and so on”, he has said of Kosova Press.

To change the situation in education, According to Kurteshi, more needs to be invested in education. Until it added that nationwide mobilization is needed to get out of this situation in which education is present.

Until it added that nationwide mobilization is needed to get out of this situation in which education is present.

From the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology say jobs for which the Progress Report has criticism are inherited.

Education Minister Valmir Gashi's adviser, through a written response to Kosova Prees, has indicated that they are working to get education out of the situation in which they found it.

“Progress Report 2018, which is actually about the work done over the past year, shows that there is no progress in the field of education in our country. However, the report clearly criticises a large number of non - done jobs that we have inherited. The good news is that the main issues discussed in the report are the ones we're working hard with since Minister Bytyci has got to run MAST”, he said.

As the best jobs that have been done so far under the direction of Education Minister Shyqi Bytyci, he has cited the Law on Higher Education, student preparation for test P ISA, as well as fair selection of the State Council of Quality. For the latter, he said they have set a good example for other institutions in the country as well.