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One of the weakest links of
Kosovo’s society is no doubt education. Lack of facilities, transportation, school
texts and professional personnel is creating problems related to the attendance
records and drop out rates in Kosovo’s schools. The end result - Kosovo’s
educational standing is well behind western European countries.
But things are likely to improve.
Just recently the World Bank awarded a grant of $4.5
million U.S. dollars to reduce drop out rates and improve attendance records in
Kosovo’s schools. The Canadian Agency for International Development offered
$1.2 million Canadian dollars to the project.
The Kosovo Ministry of Education is the
managing agency with local assistance coming from the George Soros funded
Kosovo Foundation for an Open Society, or KFOS, which provided an additional
$100 thousand U.S. dollars for technical assistance. According to KFOS, this
project will assist more then 400 schools throughout Kosovo.
KFOS is a well-known
organization in Kosovo for the support it lends to education initiatives and
this project is one of many investments they have made in the last five years.
Seb Rodiqi, is managing director for KFOS.
Cut 1The contribution of
our foundation AS IT RELATES to the World Bank Project is FOR training teachers
and FOR school management. BOTH FUNCTION AS A WAY to increase the POTENTIAL success
of this grant and to offer a better EDUCATIONAL SERVICES. Our part of the grant
will be managed by THE Kosovo Education Center or KEC who will implement the
project.
But, the implementation of
the project will not depend entirely on the KEC. We will provide help, says
Dukagjin Pupovci head of KEC, but its up to the schools to earn that money.
Cut 2 KFOS found it
reasonable to invest IN THE AREA OF technical assistance, that is, for the task
that we THE Kosovo Education Center are doing, and their aim was that through
such technical assistance WE COULD help schools to define their own projects.
We will not define their projects for them but simply we will teach them how to
do it and help them during that period of time.
Sound of the bell ringing
“Asim Vokshi” elementary
school in Pristina with more then 2.000 students is one of the schools
benefiting from this grant. Prof. Selami Salihu, director of the school says
that there have been many projects in the past that attempted to help Asim
Vokshi Elementary. But, considering the limited budget of the Ministry of
Education Salihu says they were not able to follow through.
Cut 3. In cooperation with
KEC, we agreed that our school WOULD RECEIVE FINANCING OR 10.000 euros from the
World Bank Grant. So I guess we were lucky to get this grant which we will
spend or use to reactivate the school gym. It REALLY NEEDS TO BE improved and
it would help to provide a proper educational process.
After the renovation of the gym
children will not be forced anymore to play in the corridors of the school or
in the small yard outside the school. The importance of the gym goes way beyond
just playing, says Professor Salihu, since this will help the entire
educational process in this school.
Sound of the children in
the school
The World Bank Grant is the
first major world donation of its kind given for the development of education
in Kosovo. It was started in October 2003 and is planned to continue until June
2006. Although there were some minor education initiatives before with Faik
Konica Elementary school and Xheydet Doda High School in Prishtina, they only
helped a minor number of schools with their immediate needs - like school
supplies.
These were so-called
emergency projects, says Dukagjin Pupovci, but he says, the World Bank grant is
development oriented and aims to leave a lasting mark on schools and the
community.
Cut 5 Our way of work is
through our regional officials who work in seven major cities of Kosovo and it
is based on direct and regular contacts with schools and on initiating contacts
between schools and the community. We also insist that during the developing
phases of the project and its implementation schools should communicate with
the municipality in order to strengthen the confidence for this TYPE of
work.