TIRANA, March 22 – Albania’s ruling coalition partners have added education reform to the list of their growing disagreements.
The junior coalition party, the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, criticized this week the effects of Albania’s education reform, which has been praised by Prime Minister Rama of the Socialist Party as one of the administration’s biggest accomplishment in the last four years.
The chairwoman of the Youth Movement for Integration, Florida Kerpaci, met with high school graduates in the city of Korca and said that the high school graduation exams known as State Matura must be more transparent and a merit-based process.
“Students must go to the university of their dreams and not to schools assigned by a state-designed scheme. We will fight for the cause and make sure that the State Matura is transparent and offers equal opportunities for all,” Kerpaci said.
The Socialist Movement for Integration has been highly critical to the education reform. Nevertheless, the party joined forces with the senior ally and voted the reform in parliament.
Critics believe that the SMI statements on the reform are more based on electoral prospects as the party tries to distance itself from some of the government’s unpopular reforms.
The higher education law was approved in June 2015 and faced protests by public university staff and students, who said the law favors private universities over public institutions and hurts the ability of poor students to attend university due to higher fees.
Last year, many students with excellent grades were prevented from attending the schools and majors of their choice as a new formula set by the reform caused confusion.
