Kosovo students also protest: We want college scholarships and depoliticisations

With their “D scholarships”, “We received dignified scholarships”, our “our right is the obligation for you” students from all public universities have protested in front of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, where they sought depoliticisation of education.

Through a symbolic action, they have placed handcuffs on the doors of this ministry, through which they have asked Minister Shyqi Bytyqi to release the shackles of public universities.

Diar Statovci, of the Independent Group of the UPI Students, has shown the symbol of the handcuffs that were placed on the gates of August.

In today's symbolic action, Minister Bytyqi we brought him some kind of handcuffs. These are policy handcuffs that politics is keeping in public universities by employing their people. We tell the minister: Minister, depoliticize universities, release college handcuffs because you have the key. We can identify the irregularities that are done at the university, but we have no executive powers to dismiss those people. The components are yours, you have to do this, he said.

Meanwhile, it also showed the reasons why they protested, and it has also revealed that if their demands are not met by the beginning of the summer semester, they could enter the general boycott.

Public universities since post-war have been part of the exploitation of politicians who have employed a large number of their own people. As Minister Bytyqi's arrival we have hoped that depoliticisation will occur, policy people will leave the university. However, we have repeatedly found evidence that university politicisation is continuing, such as employing the Initiative's militants in the Ministry of Education, appointment on public university governing boards, selecting the sector illegally at Prizren University. Then, not functioning the Union of Students at the University of Pristina, not building the Faculty of Sciences, and raising the budget have been some of the reasons that have led us to protest here”, he said.

In contrast, Prizren University Student Parliament Speaker “Uktin Hoti”, Milot Krasniqi, has said this university is in very bad shape.

“University “Uqin Hoti” is in very bad shape and all of this is due to the poor management of the board of directors who have appointed the Kosovo Government, the Ministry of Education, respectively. So this letter requires that you urgently take these actions so that our university can return to normal. We request the dismissal of members of the managing council appointed by August because of the failure to fulfil their obligations against Prizren University, violating the law on higher education, the university statute and all other regulations”, he said.

Members of the Steering Council, according to him, have misused the official position by buying themselves smart phones by university means, while the chairman of the Steering Council has said he has exceeded the limit for official fuel and lunch and dinner.

They have called on the audience to look into all the abuses they've mentioned.

Also, he has expressed complaints about students' scholarships, where he said that for UPZ students, dignified scholarships should be provided, rather than social aid, as he called the scholarships that 2015 students have received 202 euros, while he said the last three generations have not received scholarships at all.