UNMIK/PR/380

PRESS RELEASE - 4 October 2000

KTC Briefed by Working Group on Education

PRISTINA---The Working Group on Education of the Kosovo Transitional Council today gave a report to the KTC about its activities and the working of the education system in Kosovo.

The head of the working group, Mr. Januz Salihaj, gave a detailed submission regarding various aspects of the education system, starting with  pre-school to the technical training schools and university education. He expressed his opposition to the introduction of the new school system introduced by the JIAS Department of Education and Science. He expressed concern that in many schools around Kosovo there were 45 or more students in every class, which would affect the quality of education. Mr. Salihaj complained about the lack of proper teacher training available in Kosovo. In technical schools, he said less and less students were turning to subjects such as mining, geology and chemistry, whereas a subject like health was getting lots of students.

Mr.Dragan Velic, another member of the working group, lamented the fact that the Serb schools didn’t have enough teachers and students.

Responding to some of the issues raised at the meeting, the co-heads of the Department of Education and Science, Mr. Michael Daxner and Mr. Naim Rrustemaj, said about 400,000 students started regular school from September this year despite many difficulties.

Mr. Daxner said that the teachers training will be reorganized with help from experts from around the world and a large donation from Canada. He said his department was trying to raise the pre-primary school attendance from 2.8 per cent to 5.5 per cent this year. He disagreed that the 5+4+3 system was not a good system. As for technical schools, he said they were trying to introduce new subjects like business administration, which would be useful for the students adapted to the new economies.

Prior to this, SRSG Dr. Bernard Kouchner briefed the KTC about his recent meeting with the United Nations Security Council and his participation in the UN lessons learned conference on peacekeeping operations. He also spoke of the creation of the UNMIK bureau for the missing and the detained.

DSRSG Mr. Daan Everts updated the KTC about election preparations and campaign issues. He said the Central Election Commission had yesterday adopted an additional rule prohibiting political entities from inducing public officials to use his/her office in a way that favours that political party. Mr. Everts statement was followed by a broad discussion about the municipal elections at the end of this month.