Kosovo with a high stalemate in learning, from poor education, is suffering economy

Students in Kosovo, according to a recent World Bank report that has measured the results of human capital, have a high hold on learning.

This report shows that a child who begins school at age 4 can expect to complete 13.2 years of schooling by his 18th birthday.

But when the actual teaching of children is calculated, the expected years of schooling are only 7.9. So, according to the World Bank, there's a 5.3-year lesson gap.

This World Bank data is considered disturbing for education and economic experts.

According to them, all of this is being followed with negative effects on the country's overall socioeconomic developments.

Youth Qehaja, director at the Institute for Education Studies “EdGard”, told Free Europe Radio that this is proving that the educational system has been distributed with other educational systems in Europe.

Kosovo's “lack quality in education, quality that is then carried back years for students compared to other peers from other countries. This report re-exemplifies the necessity for radical reforms in the educational system so that it does not create an injustice for blockage for students, but achieves the goal that there is progress in knowledge and that would then contribute further to the socioeconomic development of society”, says Qehaja.

According to him, Kosovo does not lack documents and strategy to raise education, but lacks accountability. He adds that until there is an installed responsibility, then many reform initiatives will fail to be implemented.

Moses: Low quality in education with major consequences in the economy

On the other hand, the country's economy suffers from the poor quality of education in Kosovo, says economic expert Leke Musa. It for Radio Free Europe explains that the first effect of being blocked in learning and not adapting the quality of education to the needs of the labour market makes Kosovo uncompetitive for foreign investors.

With this level of teaching, Kosovo is less attractive for foreign investors to invest in Kosovo because it estimates that any employer has to invest a lot and has high costs to prepare the workforce to bring to a satisfactory level to be ready to deal with labour market demands”, Musa says.

The productivity of the workforce in Kosovo is very low, and according to him, it translates into the high cost of commitment to the workforce.

Kosovo claims that one of the reasons foreign investors should come to Kosovo is because it has free labour power, but if this workforce cannot offer what the market requires, this translates into high cost and the workforce is unexploitable. So all of these have a direct impact on economic growth and high unemployment rates compared to other countries in the region”, Musa says.

Years of data published by the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK) have shown that unemployment in Kosovo has been ongoing high. In 2019, according to AKS, unemployment was 25.7 percent. Foreign investments in Kosovo have also seen decline over the years.

In the past year, the value of foreign investments in Kosovo has been 265m euros.

Massimiliano Paolucci, the country's Kosovo manager for the World Bank in the case of publishing this report, was quoted as saying that the investments in human capital -- the knowledge, skills and health that people accumulate during their lifetime -- are essential for improving economic growth in Kosovo and other countries”.

Officials of the Ministry of Education and Science contacted by Radio Free Europe have declined to comment on the World Bank report.

For poor quality in education, Kosovo was alarmed for the second time by the internationally recognised student rating programme P In 2019. This mechanism had ranked Kosovo 77th in the middle of 79 states, which have been subjected to this assessment, ranking the third from the bottom of the list.

SBASK: World Bank assessment unstable

The United Trade Union for Education and Culture (SBASHK) disagrees with estimates made by the World Bank regarding the low level of teaching in Kosovo.

The chairman of this Union, Nundman Jasharaj, told Radio Free Europe that Kosovo lacks a good education system, but not as low as the World Bank has presented.

“This assessment is not sustainable I don't know where these estimates have been received, as it is derogatory to students in Kosovo since in international races students from Kosovo don't stand behind their peers”, he says.

The education system in Kosovo, Jasharaj says, faces major problems, but not to that level for students from Kosovo to be five years back in school compared to their peers in other parts of the world.

“Under conditions that teachers work and on the conditions that come students to learn are weak and greater investments should be made, schools should be equipped with cabinets and other things for achievements to be higher”, he says.

The education sector in Kosovo for years has faced major problems and without adequate improvement in specific areas.

The country's institutions were criticised for not sharing sufficient financial means for education. Out of the 2.3 billion-euro Kosovo budget in 2019, spending in education was allocated no more than 300m euros.