4.9 million euro investment, but the new "Edith Durham" building has fewer classrooms than the old school

The 9-year "Edith Durham" school in Tirana is expected to reopen its doors in the fall after reconstruction, but the community of parents and teachers are disappointed by its capacities, while they fear the development of two-shift teaching.

According to a teacher who spoke to BIRN on condition of anonymity, the new premises of the reconstructed school contain fewer classrooms than the old building, raising questions about the smooth running of the teaching process.

"Currently we have 45 existing classes, but we only have 40 facilities available. This means that 5 classes are out in the afternoon, or they need to be moved to Emin Duraku who has facilities," said the teacher from "Edith Durham".

"In the worst case, I believe the classes will be merged, which results in an extremely large number of students per class," she added.

The division of students into classes is done according to a guideline approved in July 2023, while a possible merger of classes would lead to overload, violation of this guideline, and lower quality of teaching.

The "Edith Durham" School was demolished in the summer of 2024 to be reconstructed through a fund of 494 million lek from the Municipality of Tirana.

Although the new building was supposed to be built with the aim of improving conditions and addressing some of the concerns of parents regarding two-shift teaching, this continues to remain problematic even after the reconstruction of the new building.

Sharing the same concern with the teachers, parents of children attending the "Edith Durham" school told BIRN that in fact the reconstructed building is not up to the expected standards, raising concerns about not being able to cope with the capacity of the area's students and the possibility of continuing classes in two shifts.

Aneo Hila, an active parent from the Parents' Community for Quality Education, told BIRN that two-shift teaching and inadequate facilities would condition children's education, but also the daily lives of parents.

"Inadequate classrooms and facilities do not allow children to develop or learn in optimal conditions, while schools without science laboratories, art rooms, a gym large enough for the number of children, and gender-segregated locker rooms limit children to mediocre development," Aneo Hila told BIRN, expressing that this was unacceptable to them.

Regarding the possibility of teaching in two shifts, Hila added that children who are forced to attend the afternoon shift not only do not learn as well as those in the morning hours, but they are also a terrible logistics for working parents.

"Children are deprived of social, cultural activities and quality time with family in the afternoon," Hila added.

"On the other hand, parents work in the morning. Who will take care of these children in the morning when the parents are at work? It is unfortunate that one of the parents has to sacrifice to quit their job, which increases the financial burden on the family, reduces the ability of the parents to build a quality life for the family," added Hila on the long chain of consequences that teaching in the afternoon shift brings.

Similarly, Ermelinda Hoxhaj, a journalist and part of the Parents' Community for Quality Education, told BIRN that at a time when parents were expecting to put an end to the old problems of teaching in two shifts, they are facing this unexpected situation in the new school building.

"We as parents have fought for the after-school program, for the 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. schedule, while these people are taking us back. This is a scandal," Hoxhaj told BIRN.

"How can an investment of around 4.9 million euros from our taxes be made without calculating the school's capacity, without conducting a demographic study, without having a clear development idea," she added.

According to Hoxhaj, these absences not only affect the progress of learning, but also affect the well-being of children.

"Teaching in shifts not only tires children and disrupts families' routines, but it also penalizes after-school projects," added Hoxhaj.

According to the parents, the Municipality should be held responsible for these deficiencies found in the new building, as such concerns were made known to it from the beginning of the project.

Aneo Hila told BIRN that the parents' voices were not heard, even though they had opposed the project as inappropriate from the beginning.

“The parents' complaints and voices have always been raised, since the initial consultation of the project was held at the school,” he said. “Together with architects and engineers, we showed them that the project does not provide enough classrooms for the enrolled children, asking them to change the project and giving them references on how to change it,” Hila emphasizes.

Disappointed, he admits that the only remaining alternative is to raise their voices for their rights.

"For all these successive irresponsibility of the Tirana Municipality, parents have no other alternative but to protest and fight for what is right," Hila told BIRN.

Contacted by BIRN, the Municipality of Tirana did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication of this article./Reporter.al