‘Education for all’ sees positive steps in Albania

TIRANA, May 4 – During the Global Action Week ‘1GOAL: Education for All’, World Vision in Albania celebrated one of its goals – the return of eight children to school in Kurbin region, located northeast of the Albanian capital, Tirana.
“I enjoy so much being at school and I’m so happy here,” said ten-year-old Ermela who started first grade several years late.
While many students, teachers and parents around the world called for greater investment in education during the Global Campaign for Education, many children in Albania are not able to go to school at all.
Until recently, this was the case for Erjon 8, Ermela 10, Aurel 8 and other Roma children in the Kurbin area, who are now attending school thanks to the local church, the Office of Education Directory and World Vision Albania.
More than 30 Roma families live in extremely poor conditions in their neighbourhood and most of the family members do not have any formal education.
The families live in small houses, most of which consist of a single room and appear more like military barracks than homes. Entire families used to live with no potable water in their neighbourhood, a situation that has been rectified thanks to the local church.
Around 25 other Roma children in this community used to be illiterate. Most of them, like Adriana or her siblings, had never seen the inside of a school or the inside of a schoolbook.
Poverty and labour exploitation are not the only obstacles that keep these children out of school. Discrimination and marginalization have caused parents not only to keep their children at home, but also to be very closed towards outsiders.
After several meetings between the parents and other partners, many Roma parents finally agreed to send their children to school.
Some of the children were too old to start school from the beginning so the local church, in partnership with World Vision, provided these children with literacy courses.