Education in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, consists of primary, secondary and higher education. Pristina houses a number of public and private institutions, such as the University "Hasan Prishtina", the National Library of Kosovo, and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. Throughout the last century Pristina has attracted a considerable number of students from Kosovo. Today, the city of Pristina hosts a large number of intellectuals, professors, academics, students, and professionals in various spheres.
Education in Pristina in the past
The foundation of educational institutions in Pristina
Among the first schools known in Pristina were those opened during the Ottoman period, before 1912. Albanians were allowed to attend these schools, most of which were religious, with only few of them being secular. During 1913, in Pristina, few Serbian-language primary schools and gymnasiums were opened."Shifra dhe fakte per Arsimin e Kosoves" , KEC, p.54 The period that followed the Ottoman rule, between 1916 and 1918 was also important for the educational system in Kosovo. During this period, Pristina, along with other municipalities such as Ferizaj and Prizren, was occupied by Bulgaria. Bulgarian occupiers did not allow Albanian-language schools, however because of the positive impact of the Austro-Hungarians in the Bulgarian area, some religious Catholic schools were allowed in Pristina and other municipalities occupied by them. In 1916, the Bulgarian National Gymnasium was opened in Pristina. The situation in terms of education was worse in the region under the rule of Bulgaria compared to the region occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces where 300 Albanian-language schools were allowed to be opened.
Education during the period under Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia During 1919–1939 in Yugoslavia, all Albanian-language schools were closed and education was allowed only in Serbo-Croatian. Around four (4) percent of Yugoslav people attended secondary education, with rural areas being the regions with the lowest numbers of participants since access to schools was almost nonexistent. During this period, the most marginalized group who was deprived from attending schools were girls coming from Muslim families.
During the World War II Kosovo joined with Albania under Italian occupation. This marked a positive turn in the educational system in Kosovo and Prishtina/Pristina in particular since schools in Albanian were allowed to be opened. Besides hundreds of primary schools opened in Pristina, the first high school in Albanian in this municipality, Sami Frasheri, was also founded."Shifra dhe fakte per Arsimin e Kosoves" , KEC, p.57 After the World War II, Kosovo was again part of Yugoslavia. During this period, ethnic Albanians were recognized as a national minority and Albanian was accepted and Albanian-language primary schools were allowed while higher levels of education were offered still only in Serbo-Croatian. In 1968, the constitution was amended to allow the opening of Albanian-language schools at all levels. After the WWII, education in Kosovo was provided in three languages: Serbian, Albanian, and Turkish, while after 1953 lessons in these three languages were offered in the same school.
After 1968, the foundation of Albanian-language educational institutions continued. In 1969, the Albanian University of Pristina was opened. Texts and teaching materials were imported from Albania, as part of an agreement between the University of Tirana and that of Pristina in 1970. In 1981, the University of Pristina consisted of 75 per cent ethnic Albanians out of the 47,000 students attending it. During the late 70s and early 80s the economic situation in Kosovo and Yugoslavia was worsening. Furthermore, negative discrimination of students based on ethnicity led Albanian students of the University of Pristina to organize a massive protest on March 11, 1981, known as the Student Protests of 1981."Shifra dhe fakte per Arsimin e Kosoves" , KEC, p.63 As a result of violent student riots, restrictions in the education of Albanians were imposed again. As a result of this protest, the previous agreement between Albania and Kosovo, to exchange educational materials, ended and Serbo-Croatian books started to be translated in Albanian to fulfil the needs of the university. Further, students, teachers and professors who participated in these protests were expelled, thus resulting in more than 260 students and more than 210 teachers/professors expelled.
The context during the period under Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro During the period of abolition of Kosovo's autonomy (1989-1990), education in Kosovo faced further changes. A new curriculum concentrated more in covering Serbian culture and history and that made Serbo-Croatian a compulsory subject in Kosovo high schools was adopted in 1990. Further, students who wanted to enter secondary schools had to pass a Serbian language test. As a result, after 1992, there were left only Albanian-language elementary schools while in secondary schools and Pristina University Serbian was the only language of instruction.
Private Albanian schools
In the 1990s, Kosovars established a parallel education system as a temporary solution to the situation created during that period. Around 300–450,000 students boycotted the state educational institutions and attended the parallel Albanian-language private schools. For a period of more than six years, Albanian-Kosovar students attended parallel primary and secondary schools and were unable to attend university as they were neither allowed to enter nor attend the university or Pristina. These private/parallel schools were located in mosques, private houses, garages, etc.
On September 1, 1996, President of Serbia, Milošević and Kosovar leader, Rugova signed an agreement that would allow ethnic Albanian students and teachers to return to schools. However, this agreement was never implemented and this led to protest held between October 1997 and January 1998. Again, during these protests a number of the students were arrested and beaten by the police. On March 23, 1998, another agreement was signed that allowed Albanian students to return to schools and in the University of Pristina. However, this agreement did not allow the integration of Albanian students and pupils with the Serbian ones. To maintain this, a shift schedule was applied so that Serb students attended the lectures in the morning and Albanians in the afternoon. In response to this agreement and as a way to show their disagreement, Serb students and professors at the University of Pristina organized a protest where 10,000 people were gathered.
The Context during the period and after the ethnic-conflict in 1998-1999
After the conflict, United Mission in Kosovo started working in establishing educational institutions. UNMIK authorities tried to establish schools that would work in a unified system and students be taught in their language of choice."Parallel worlds – Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo", IIEP, p.8 Among the first changes to be adopted in 2001 were the new curriculum framework and changes in the organization of educational system."Kosovo – Rebuilding the education system after civil conflict " , Amanda Crawford, accessed on 23 February 2014 During the time that UNMIK authorities were trying to set up education authorities and institutions in Pristina, Serbian and Albanian education officials restarted schools in this city."Parallel worlds – Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo", IIEP, p.50
One factor that had an impact in the education policy-making in Kosovo during that time was the increasing urbanization. According to some estimates, the number of people living in Pristina tripled in size since before the NATO campaign from around 200,000 residents before the conflict to about 650,000 in 2002."Parallel worlds – Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo", IIEP, p.58 As of 2007–2008, in Pristina, eleven schools (11) were operating in two (2) shifts while one school was operating in fours (4) shifts, due to the high number of pupils., MEST, p.40
Among other problems that existed during that time in Pristina related to education, were the high drop-out rates between primary and secondary school for girls, ethnic minorities and children in rural areas."Parallel worlds – Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo", IIEP, p.60 Further, in relation to teacher and professor, the major problem was regarding their salaries. At that time, salaries for faculty at the main campus in Pristina were quite low. Few of the professors were paid salaries that were little more than US$100 per month."Parallel worlds – Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo", IIEP, p.62
Among the major actions, during what was known as the emergent phase (1999-2002), that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) took were to reactivate the educational system in Kosovo especially by contributing in improving and building new school infrastructure, accommodating all the students in schools, and formulating and implementing laws and regulations to ensure the proper functioning of the educational system., MEST, p.7
In 2002, MEST formulated a new structure of organizing the educational institutions. From now on the education system would consist of preschool education (from 9 months to six years), compulsory education that consists of 5 years of primary education, 4 years of lower secondary education, and 3 or 4 years of upper secondary education depending on the school., MEST, p.6 Based on this organization, as of 2004/2005, in Pristina were only 3 preschool institutions and had 1542 children out of which only five (5) were Bosnian, two (2) Croatian, eight (8) Turkish, two (2) Gorani and four (4) other., MEST, p.8 Nonetheless, as of 2007/08, the number of preschool institutions in Pristina increased from 3 to 9 while the number of ethnic minorities attending these institutions decreased in 5, with only two (2) Bosnians and three (3) Turkish., MEST, p.5
Primary and lower-secondary education was based on the 5 + 4 years model since the academic year 2004/05., MEST, p. 14 In Pristina, in the same academic year, there were 60 primary and lower-secondary schools that provide instruction only in Albanian. The total number of students was 32,370 out of which 15,583 were females and all of them were Albanian students. The average number of students per class in that academic year in Pristina was 26.71., MEST, p.17 In the academic year 2005/06 the number of primary and lower-secondary schools increased in 63 and two (2) schools would now offer instruction in other languages as well; however, in 2007/08, this number again decreased in 61 schools with only one of them having mixed languages of instruction., MEST, p.13 These schools were attended by 34,703 Albanian, 32 Bosnian students, 30 Ashkali, 1 Roma and 199 Turkish students., MEST, p.17
Since the 2002/03 academic year, upper-secondary education consisted of three (3) or four (4) years, depending on the academic programs set by MEST., MEST, p.24 In the academic year 2004/05, there were 12 schools in Pristina that offered lectures only in Albanian. Total number of students in this year was 9060 out of which 4423 were, and the average number of students per class was 30.10., MEST, p.28 In the academic year 2005/06, two (2) schools out of the total number of 12 became mixed schools adopting other languages of instruction besides Albanian, with one of them being Sami Frasheri., MEST, p.22