Conflict between municipality and parents shuts down schools, students risk missing out

The director for Education in the Drinas municipality, Tafil Halilaj, has told Periscope that this is not the closure, but only a fusion of parallels has been made in order to avoid large expenditures.

This is because we don't have enough circumstances compared to our school. We called it parallel fusion, because students are just going to go to the school that's in the other neighborhood. Even the Muliqi neighborhood and mother school, they have classes of 21 students, the largest is with 29 students”, Halilaj said in a pronomation for Periscope.

Gevdet Demaku, head of the village of Abri and Upper, even an delegate of parents to discuss the matter with the municipality, says that with this decision, village children are being denied a basic right such as schooling.

Our village is officially against closure, 116 students that school had and now they're closing it down. Four miles of road students. We've been in the municipality and we've discussed, we've clarified our attitude because parents refuse to bring children to the next school”, Demak says of Periscope.

The education director in the Drina municipality, Tafil Halilaj, says it is impossible to function like this, add according to it, even the large number of education workers, outside the salary list.

There's a lot of workers off the payroll. We're getting a triple higher salary. We've got a call to the Ministry of Education, all right, we've got everything right and we're not closing. Then, there's a lot of calls from the paying audience off the” list, Halilaj says about Periscope.

“As far as the parents' warning that they will not send their children to school, thus rejecting this decision of the Darena municipality, Halilaj tells Periscope that parents do legal offense with this action.

Your son's in school. It's a crime to stop kids from school. Those who do not allow children to go to school, let them go to courts”, Halilaj says.

The head of the village and teacher Jevdet Demaku, says this approach to the municipality is very wrong.

The parents are not interested in these details. Let the courts handle it, they're wrong. I've asked the leaders of the Drenas Education Directorate a question: If you had children at this school, would you have sent them somewhere else? Then there's another problem, even the worst workers in the world, in developed countries are always pre-advanced for leaving work, not just to get rid of it like rags”, he says.

He says parents will follow a series of actions to counter the decision.

The first “week, there will be protests every day before the school closed. The second week, there will be protests in front of the Drenas municipality. My parents have filed complaints with the Directorate of Education in our municipality, sent complaints to the Ministry of Education and also to the Ombudsman”, says Geevdet Demak for Periscope.

Tafil Halilaj says that since this morning, the municipality has sent the bus to pick up students and send them to school.

A teacher who taught at the school, "Schote Galica" of Muliqi County, on condition of anonymity told Periscope that this is a political decision of the town of Drenas.

This is an illegal decision. So far, only the school principal has seen the decision. Why would this school have worked since 2002 and now it's not working. They shut it down, they're saying we've done a fusion, but the school is actually closed”, says the F.H., for Periscope.

The opposition in Drenas rejects the Ramiz Ladrovci municipality's decision.

Petit Gashi, assemblyally from the Civic Initiative for Drenas, says this is a violation of the right to education.

If only one student had that school, it wouldn't have to be closed, Gashi says of Periscope.

In his view, to make such a decision, even the municipality would have to discuss with the assemblyists.

How do you make such an authoritarian decision? We don't know anything officially, but we're talking 40 teachers have been terminated. The municipality has to explain why it allowed or why it has commissioned so many teachers with a half rating of”, Gashi said.

So says the head of the Vetvendosje Centre in Drenas, Shemsy Elez.

This school since it looks new doesn't shut down even if 10 students follow it. Its closure is a blow given to education in that remote rural area. Parents have the right to protest”, he said.

The VV even criticises the education ministry's approach to building schools in every neighborhood. And when they close, ask the VV.

“Abri, respectively, will no longer be opened. That's what they put on the DKA in Drenas. Once the Muliqi family (Latif Muliqi) had left its land with no pay to build the school which so far had considerable numbers of students. The strategy for development of education in Kosovo 2008/2013 , to build school objects in every neighbourhood and village seems to be following character for tender benefits rather than a well prepared strategy. The students' parents refuse to accept the closure of this school because now the children should be sent to school, which has over two miles [3 km] of road. The invaders today are of no interest to their parents ' request. The question comes, how this object will be maintained and maintained, since no learning comes to pass, and the school item will be destroyed since there will be no further concern. Where is the will of our citizen's (Basca Latif) who leaves the land for the construction of school facilities and where citizens' demands for a closer school for their children remain. The Drenas municipality and the mayor must make citizen decisions, not just because they address someone”, it was said in full response from the VVA Centre in Drenas, a few days ago./Periscopi/