All MPs and former MPs, ministers and former ministers educate their children in private institutions with the common denominator being high bills, which in some cases are equal to their annual salary.
Author: Inva Gorellari, Rakela Hunci, William Hysa
Attending nine-year and secondary education in public schools is the reality of many children in the country, but this is not a choice for the children of Albanian MPs and ministers.
An investigation of Albanian Center for Quality Journalism reveals that almost all Albanian MPs and former MPs, who have children between the ages of 8 and 18, have chosen private education for them.
Likewise, the four current ministers and the deputy prime minister, who happen to also have children of this age, have chosen private education.
The investigation examined deputies who were part of the Albanian parliament in January 2019, as well as former ministers and government ministers since September 2017.
The choice of mass private education for children by Albanian political representatives raises serious questions about the level of primary and secondary education in Albania today.
Elected with the obligation to improve this system, they do not prefer it for their children, leading to the suspicion that this education is also unsuitable for other children in Albania.
Often the school fees chosen by legislators, ministers and former ministers for children are almost the same as their annual salary raising significant questions about the source of income.
The investigation also highlights the fact that the annual payments for children's education are not declared as a separate item in the annual incomes and expenses that elected officials and senior officials submit every year to the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest ( ILDKPKI), making the situation even less transparent.
High bills and lack of transparency
Private schools for the lower and secondary cycle have been present for two decades in Albania, currently offering a great variety of currents and influences in education.
The investigation highlights that the Albanian deputies and ministers are also diverse in terms of the choice for the education of the offspring. Turkish, Greek, French, American and British influenced schools are all accepted for their children's education.
The common denominator is the high bill they pay, which, according to the investigation, is in all cases over three thousand euros per year for each child.
But the annual bill in many cases is several times higher than that.
A prominent case is that of the chairman of the Democratic Party, former DP deputy, Lulzim Basha, who educates both of his daughters in a private institution, where the annual payment for a child is 20 euros per year.
Former Albanian ministers (now deputies), such as Arben Ahmetaj, Damian Gjiknuri, Ditmir Bushati, are known to educate their children in institutions, where the year costs no less than 11 thousand euros.
Former members of the opposition, such as Aldo Bumçi, are also at this salary level.
Meanwhile, although they have not yet reached the age of 18, Albanian politicians, such as Monika Kryemadhi, have preferred to educate their children in expensive colleges outside Albania.
Ministers such as Blendi Klosi, Belinda Balluku, Anila Denaj, Ogerta Manastirliu educate their children in schools, where the annual cost is between three and seven thousand euros. Similarly, the deputies or former deputies Ulsi Manja, Helidon Bushati, Niko Peleshi, Ilir Pendavinji, Albana Vokshi, Blerina Gjylameti, Luciano Boçi, Grida Duma, Dhurata Çupi and many others.
But, despite this, from the research of CENTER it turned out that none of the aforementioned or the other elected officials provide information on the annual declaration of assets for the high obligations they pay for their children's school.
The socialist deputy, Niko Peleshi, who educates his three children in a private institution that costs about six thousand euros per year for one child, emphasizes Center that this choice has come, as he and his wife are engaged in work until the evening.
"The non-public school we have chosen compensates for our inability to follow the children's progress on a daily basis", he said.
According to him, public and non-public schools have their advantages and disadvantages and the coexistence of both systems helps in the continuous improvement of the educational level.
Reforms, thoughtless
In reality, the elected politicians of the Albanians do not coexist with the public school, it is a completely excluded choice, when it comes to the future of their children.
Meanwhile, for many Albanians, public school is the only possible solution for their children.
According to the journalist specialized in education issues, Ermelinda Hoxhaj, the only reason that keeps ordinary citizens away from choosing a private school is the economic impossibility.
"Unfortunately, private schools offer security; small classes; premises within standards; stay time compatible with parents' work hours; food; doing homework while attending extracurricular courses", Hoxhaj emphasizes.
According to her, the recent reforms, which have been attempted in the lower and secondary cycle of education in the country, have been quick and thoughtless, creating a chaotic situation.
"The texts still have many problems and the new changes have brought an extraordinary pressure on the teacher of the lower and secondary cycle, while many directorates responsible for this education have merged", - emphasizes Hoxhaj, predicting the worsening of the situation in it the near future.
At a time when public schools, in which hundreds of thousands of Albanian children receive their education, are suffering from low investment and lack of safety and quality in education, those who have the obligation and the opportunity to change the situation seem not to be helping enough .
Instead of insisting on making public schools worthy of their children and of Albania, it seems that they choose to provide the former in oases that are often inaccessible to the latter.
*In the first photo at the beginning of the article, the building of one of the expensive private schools in Tirana
