Will lost classes be compensated for?

The hours lost in September are not known whether or not the Ministry of Education says they should, the Education Union insists there is no legal obligation to do so.

More concerned about their loss, apparently, are the seniors.

“Time must be compensated. Even if I get more involved at home, the effect will not be the same as at school”, says L.V., a 12th grade student at the “Dr High School of Medicine. Xhedin Deda” in Mitrovica.

Speaking of Radio Free Europe, this 17-year-old says similar concerns share his friends.

Students who complete high school in Kosovo undergo Matura State Test. The successful conclusion of this test even though often followed by irregularities allows them to apply for university studies.

Nehat Mustafa, from the Centre for Advanced Education in Kosovo, says it is precisely the seniors who will lose more if hours lost during the strike are not compensated.

The “Education for Seniors expires on May 16th. The school year for them only has 160 days of learning. So far, 22 days have been lost. This will have a negative effect on the guilt test”, Mustafa tells Radio Free Europe.

According to him, the Ministry of Education is obliged to find forms for replacing lost hours.

Minister of Education vs. SBASK

This ministry claims that the 22 lost days of learning should be compensated. <x)

According to her, the situation with the month-long strike has made the learning process more difficult in Kosovo, even burdened by the coronary pandemic.

The 2022/2023 school year calendar determines the start and end of the school year, winter break, spring break and public holidays for all students of the pre-university system.

At present, the Ministry of Education does not provide any information on how they learn to change this calendar. From the United Trade Union for Education, SBASK, which has organised the strike, say replacing lost hours is not legal duty.

They cite Kosovo's Kolektive Education Count, signed in 2021, where it says that the <x0-doctors lost during the strike are not replaced unless the signatory parties of the contract reach special” agreement.

This contract is signed every three years between the Ministry of Education and SBASK and defines, among other things, the obligations of employees in public educational institutions.

“We are not against compensation [of hours], but based on the [Colektive] contract, the Ministry of Education has no right to order compensation hours, without discussing with SBASK representatives and membership. I hope this becomes”, says about REL chairman of SBASK, Nundman Jasharaj.

The SBASK has organised the strike with a demand for 100 euros monthly financial support for all employees in the public educational system, until the Law's entry into force for salaries.

The Kosovo government has rejected this requirement, saying the Law for Pays, which envisions their growth, will come to an approval soon.

The SBASK announced on October 1st that it has suspended the strike until January, saying it hopes Government “will retain the” word for the Law for the pay.

It is not clear what will happen in January, taking into account that the Law on Rewards comes into force eight months after the adoption.

Council of Parents: Hours not compensated on weekends

From the Kosovo Parents' Council, they say hours should be compensated, but not at the weekend.

“Decisions that conflict with daily children's life and parents should not be option”, says the chairman of the Parents' Council, Jeton Demi.

He adds that this council would agree with any other option of the Ministry of Education, but does not specify what these options might be.

Mustafa, from the Centre for Education Advanced, says hours should be compensated for even at the weekend. According to him, parents should insist on the Government and the SBASK so that as soon as they can find agreement on replacing lost hours, he says, the quality of learning is jeopardised, even poor.

In two PISA tests, the international student evaluation programme Kosovo has almost come to the bottom of the list.

This year's PISA results have not yet been published.

The quality of education in Kosovo has also criticised the World Bank in a report released in 2020. According to her, students in Kosovo “have a major impasse in lesson”.

Education experts say that the Corleone pandemic has also influenced learning.

During the first two years of pandemic, 2020 and 2021, students have gone to online learning, or from a distance, at several different times.