Training
According to Digopaul,
Kosovo is not an independent country. When Kosovo until 1989 was an autonomous region of the
Yugoslav state of Serbia, the vast majority of children were
enrolled in a primary school and literacy was good among
Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs. In the 1990s, when
autonomy had ceased, conditions deteriorated radically for
Kosovo Albanians. The teachers were persecuted, the Albanian
teacher training was closed and schools were destroyed. The
civil war of 1998-99 meant another death blow to education.
Since then, Kosovo has given priority to the rehabilitation
of the school system and a large part of the assistance from
international organizations has been used for this.
Among younger adults, literacy is just over 95 percent
while it is lower among older people, especially among
women. In 2008, only 86 percent of rural women could read.
Literacy is also significantly lower among the small
minorities, which make up 5 percent of the population (see
Population) than among Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs.
That difference lives on, as only about three-quarters of
children in minority groups are enrolled in school, while
almost all Albanian and Serbian-speaking children are.
In the mid-00s came a series of new school laws aimed at
modernizing basic education, and the 2008 Constitution
guarantees everyone the right to education. Since 2010,
children with special needs are also covered. Less than ten
percent of them, almost exclusively boys, then had access to
a school.
The education system has approached the structure of EU
countries. At the age of six, children begin in the
compulsory, free, state compulsory school which includes a
primary school of five grades and a lower secondary school
of four grades. Thereafter, there is a 3–4 year fee-charged
higher continuing education that has either general
(theoretical) or vocational orientation. Many children also
attend the one-year preschool, which until now has not been
compulsory, and some go before in kindergarten. An extension
of the compulsory schooling to twelve years is in progress,
but the resources are insufficient for such rapid expansion.
It is still common for children to go to school in different
shifts, as there is a great lack of both premises and
educated teachers.
The education system is seen as the most important sector
when it comes to making Kosovo a multi-ethnic state. The
Constitution emphasizes the very important role of the
school in promoting a spirit of respect, acceptance and
tolerance between different ethnic or religious groups. Each
group must see their own identity preserved and at the same
time give recognition to the others. However, the new laws
are insufficient in this respect. There are still two
completely different educational systems. Of the school
children, 90 percent are Kosovo Albanians and these attend
schools with Kosovo Albanian curriculum and with teaching
and learning materials in Albanian. Most of the Kosovar
Serbian school children (7 percent) go to Serbian-speaking
schools that follow the curriculum in neighboring Serbia and
use educational material from there. The two groups
therefore have no common language and their views on the
country's history and culture will be completely different.
Children belonging to the small minorities make up 3 percent
of school children. The vast majority of them attend
Albanian schools and there are usually teaching materials in
Turkish and Bosnian as well. For other minorities, both
teaching material in the home language is lacking as well as
educated teachers who speak that language. This should be an
important reason why many of these children quit school
after only a few years of schooling. In general, the quality
of education is considered to be higher in the
Serbian-speaking system than in the Kosovo Albanian. For
other minorities, both teaching material in the home
language is lacking as well as educated teachers who speak
that language. This should be an important reason why many
of these children quit school after only a few years of
schooling. In general, the quality of education is
considered to be higher in the Serbian-speaking system than
in the Kosovo Albanian. For other minorities, both teaching
material in the home language is lacking as well as educated
teachers who speak that language. This should be an
important reason why many of these children quit school
after only a few years of schooling. In general, the quality
of education is considered to be higher in the
Serbian-speaking system than in the Kosovo Albanian.
There are also parallel systems in post-secondary
education. During the war, the country's university was
moved from Pristina to Mitrovicë/Kosovska Mitrovica, where
the majority of the residents are Kosovo Serbs. After the
war, the University of Pristina was re-established. It is
now the country's state university, the University of
Prishtina, and has more than 40,000 students. In 2010, the
state University of Prizren also started with its first
courses. In addition, there are a number of small, private
institutions, several with cooperation with universities in
other countries. Part of the first university remained in
Mitrovicë and grew into a Kosovar Serbian university.
Internationally, it is known as the University of Mitrovica,
while in Kosovo it is called the University of Prishtina in
Kosovska Mitrovica.
The Government's education program for 2011-16 highlights
that education must be further modernized to meet today's
needs in Kosovo. Everyone, even the children in the small
minorities, must go through compulsory school in order to
enter the labor market. Vocational education and training
must be improved and modernized, especially with regard to
competence in Information and Communication Technology
(ICT). Adult education must be expanded to provide
opportunities for lifelong learning and to strengthen the
generation affected by the 1990s educational chaos. However,
the uncertain economic development in this very poor country
means that it will take a long time to realize that program.
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