UNMIK/PR/80

Press Release

25 October 1999

Donors’ Emergency Textbook Project for the Children of Kosovo

Pristina - As part of the process of re-establishing the educational system of Kosovo, under the auspices of UNMIK, a group of governmental and non-governmental organizations has been formed as a consortium of donors, with the aim of satisfying the main textbook needs for the 1999-2000 school year by supporting their publication.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Department for International Development (DFID, UK), the US State Department/Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM), the Danish Government/DANIDA, the Kosova Foundation for an Open Society (KFOS), Plataforma por Kosova (Spain), the Government of Austria, UNICEF, and SBASHK (Kosovo trade union)/SJRC (Saudi Arabia) have collected funds for the printing of more than two hundred school textbooks in Albanian, with a total circulation of 3.2 million copies, as well as for the textbook supplies in Serbian, Bosnian and Turkish.

With a view to supporting local capacity, the printing of textbooks will be handled by 17 printing companies and one from Skopje, following a tendering procedure organized in coordination with the Libri Shkollor publishing house.  Contracts have been awarded on the basis of the most competitive bids offered by the printers, also taking into account their capacity and technical equipment. A total of 43 truck-loads of paper, mainly from Germany and Turkey, will be required for the textbook printing operation.

The printing of textbooks has already started. The first textbooks to come off the printing presses are expected this week and will be immediately distributed to schools throughout Kosovo. The textbooks printed with the financial support of the consortium of donors will be distributed to schoolchildren free of charge.

For further information please contact:
Mr Mark Richmond
Education and Culture Section, Civil Administration, UNMIK, Pristina
or
Mr Isuf Berisha
Kosova Foundation for an Open Society (KFOS), Pristina