“450 new schools?” - When the electoral calculations don't add up

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared at the start of the electoral campaign that his government has built 450 schools.

"We have built 450 schools, which have benefited 200,000 students who today enter and leave schools that lack nothing, not all schools in the European Union, but the best schools in the European Union," the prime minister  declared during a public presentation.

At first glance, this statement creates the impression of a radical transformation of the public education infrastructure. But as is often the case with figures, they need a solid foundation. When Faktoje requested information from the Ministry of Education to confirm the Prime Minister’s statement, the picture that emerged was significantly less “cemented”.

According to official data from the Ministry of Education in 2013, the total number of public pre-university education institutions was 1,741. By 2023, this number had dropped to 1,378. This means a decrease of 363 schools in the last ten years. So, not an increase and certainly not the construction of 450 new schools.

As for public universities, they have remained exactly the same as before: 15. Not one more, not one less. Higher education, it seems, has not been on the construction agenda.

It is important to explain that when the government says "built schools," at best it means schools that have been demolished and rebuilt from scratch. At worst, it is talking about plastering walls and arranging courtyards or gyms.

According to data obtained from the Ministry of Education and processed by Faktoje, from 2014 to 2024, 43 schools were reconstructed or expanded. About 3 per year, a pace that is more reminiscent of seasonal repairs than an educational revolution.

Also during this period, various interventions were made in 245 other schools, which included interior works, facade reconstructions, etc. Of these, 68 also included sports fields or gyms. In 43 schools, interventions were made only in sports fields.

In total, if we count all the interventions, even those that only affect the yards or gyms, the figure goes to 331. It is worth noting here that a good portion of the interventions were carried out in the same schools, so 331 are interventions in schools, not 331 different schools where work was carried out.

The Reconstruction Program, launched after the 2019 earthquake, also comes into play. As part of it, 125 schools have been rebuilt or rehabilitated, but 43 of them were built by the EU through the EU4Schools program and only 82 by the Albanian government itself.

 

The only way to reach the 450 figure that the prime minister gave is if we accept with maximum generosity every intervention as evidence of "school construction", which exposes the prime minister's electoral propaganda.

Another fact revealed by the Ministry of Education figures is that the number of students is in free fall.

In general basic and upper secondary education, from 501,693 students in the 2013–2014 school year, there were only 267,275 students in 2022–2023. The number of students has almost halved in 10 years.

What, then, does the number 450 represent? More of a slogan, a number that sounds nice on the podium, but not a documented reality, nor an achievement based on facts.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister's statement seems to specifically confuse maintenance with construction, necessity with initiative, hope with concrete.

" In the fourth mandate, 200 new schools will be added to this necklace," Prime Minister Rama promised following the statement. This remains to be seen, but based on the data of the Ministry of Education itself, we will categorize Prime Minister Edi Rama's statement that his government has built 450 schools as untrue. Faktoje.al