The first Albanian school opens in Manchester, England

 

The month of November of this year was quite successful for Albanians in England, as the first Albanian school was opened in Manchester, for all expatriates and for those who want to learn in Albanian.

The initiator of the opening of this school is Albanian Erisa Isufaj, who had this idea since 2018, but six years of work resulted in the opening of the "28 Nëntori" school on November 30.

"First of all, I want to say that we set the date for November 30, since the name of our school is "November 28"... The organization went very well, many Albanians were present, along with their children who supported me. Also, some locals were invited who decided to support us...

"The idea of ​​having an Albanian school in Manchester, I think it's within the minds of many Albanians who live here, it's not like I'm the only person who has had the desire. Albanians came to Manchester at least 25 years ago or more and from that moment on there have been people who have had the desire to open an Albanian school," Isufaj said.

She says that there are many immigrants who want their children to learn in Albanian, without forgetting the language and traditions of Kosovo and Albania. Students will be able to start learning from January 11, 2025.

"This is an alternative school, meaning that they are schools that are not from Monday to Friday, they are only once a week. It will be every Saturday from 11:00 to 13:00, we will try to ensure that the children, being of different ages, have one teacher, several students in three different groups.

"It will be an hour and a half of lessons to write, read, help the children speak Albanian. We will talk about the history of Albania, Kosovo so that they can get to know their country and normally the last half hour will be dedicated to culture, where we will include arts, clothing, traditional dances," he said.

Isufaj talks about the challenges she faced during the process of opening the school. She says that the hope of teaching Albanian to her children and the Albanian community in Manchester did not stop her on this journey.

"We have chosen to give birth to our children here or to bring them at a certain age. I think that by bringing them here we have an obligation to at least teach them the Albanian language, but normally parents have commitments. Life is not easy and teaching them the Albanian language is an extra task and not everyone has the time, opportunity or patience. I think that by having an Albanian school everyone finds the time and once a week they have the opportunity to bring their children there.

"The children are excited, all the children here have their own community where children or adults gather, whereas the Albanian children who live in Manchester do not have a community where they can come together, where they can learn the Albanian language because we will talk about our history, we will talk about traditions, we will learn our dances, so they will have a kind of identity," she said.

Even though it's only been a few days, the interest and applications from students have just come in. She shows how parents can register their children.

"There has been interest, normally this is the first year and I expected the number of students to be less. At the moment we have created a class with 20 students, who are of different age groups from 5 to 15 years. Normally I have a staff, I will not be alone, there are several teachers who will help me with the school and we will divide them into different groups. We also have the opportunity when children cannot come to school physically, we have offered the opportunity to complete the lesson online and we are online from Monday to Friday from 17:00 to 20:00. There is a Facebook page where they can write to me, we are in the process of editing the school website and I believe that it will be active in a month, my number is there", she said.

Even though it is an Albanian school, the books they will use will not be the books they use in Kosovo and Albania.

"From the Kosovo state's side, what I was able to get is that the Kosovo Embassy offered us books. The books that are for children in the diaspora are books and packages that are only for diaspora books," she said.

Isufaj expects them to start the year as well as possible and grow over the years as the first Albanian school in Manchester. /KP/