Gov’t plans to ax 2,000 ‘unqualified’ teachers

New state budget also plans to hire 1,200 new police officers.
TIRANA, Nov. 3 – About 2,000 teachers in the public school system are not qualified to do the job, and some 4,500 are not qualified to teach the subjects assigned to them, according to a government report published Monday.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Edi Rama and Education Minister Lindita Nikolla said all unqualified teachers in the education system would be fired and all teachers would be required to undergo testing to obtain a teaching license.
The entire pre-university system will undergo reform to make sure the licensing tool is applied. The changes will happen at the end of this academic year, officials said.
“We have taken over to make a fundamental transformation of our country,” Rama said at the meeting, mentioning the fact that some 177,000 students of elementary and high schools are in the hands of “teachers without the proper education, beyond their profile or teachers who are not present at work at all.”
Rama said the situation was “scandalous,” adding that investment in education needs more than funding of new buildings and more classrooms.
“At the pre-university education level we should conduct a revolution,” he said, adding that the “operation should be radical, without any compromise and no mercy because this is not the fate of a government but the fate of a whole generation and the fate of Albania’s future in 20-30 years.”
By June next year, the education system will have a database marking the qualities of each teacher, the premier pledged.
“Education is our major challenge. Our ambition is to fundamentally transform the foundation of the system and then guarantee that tomorrow’s Albania be more knowledgeable than today’s Albania,” he said.
The news about the teachers comes as the government also announced it would hire 1,200 police officers to increase rule of law compliance.
That’s a more than 10 percent increase to the current 10,400-strong police force.
“The number of state employees will be 87,000, reflecting the addition of 1,200 new state police officers in accordance to the government’s priorities,” notes the new state budget expecting approval in parliament.