TIRANA, Nov. 24 – “Doing homework at school” is a pilot project in the field of education that will first be implemented in 20 schools, in the municipalities of Korà§a, Elbasan, Fier and Lezhà« apart from the capital. The project, which aims at increasing grade equality among students, will consist of creating appropriate learning environments for students so that they can stay longer at school and finalize their homework with the help of their teachers.
Besa Shahini, Deputy Minister for Education, who gave the first important information regarding the pilot project, stressed on the importance of expanding it further than the capital and its main goal, which is helping students that are left behind achieve higher results and be academically equal with their peers.
“There are 4 more municipalities, those of Korà§a, Elbasan, Fier and Lezha. The goal is to help children, especially those who are left a bit behind in their studies, so that we can increase the equality between students; 2nd graders can stay at school for an extra 2 or more hours, while 6th, 8th and 9th graders will stay 2 hours and a half, or more, depending on the time necessary to complete their homework,” Shahini said.
She also clarified on the method chosen to determine which classes require more help from teachers, and who will be the professionals that will stay at school after hours.
“We will monitor which are the students’ needs for more help. The focus will be placed on Albanian language and sciences because those are the subjects that students experience more problems with according to the PISA test. According to students’ needs, the teachers will also be determined. It will be a combination among teachers working the morning shift, we will take on extra hours, teachers from other schools and practicing teachers,” Shahini added.
Another issue regarding this pilot project is whether lunch will be provided for the children staying longer in school, and who will be the provider.
“As for the lunch, that is something the municipality will take on as a responsibility. Tirana’s municipality is already implementing several models. Different regions have different capacities, according to their municipalities’ budget. In cooperation with the Ministry of Healthcare and Agriculture, we are drafting a menu, a list of foods as suggestions for parents, so light foods that don’t go bad if stocked,” Shahini stated.
During the summer of 2018, an evaluation of the pilot project has been scheduled in order to examine the future regions it could be expanded to during its second year. However, this choice will highly depend on which schools will be freed from operating in two shifts because of the abundance of students registered in them.
