Starting with the new Academic Year, the Ministry of Education and Sports intends to give special status to schools of artistic and sports profile, committing to a more special treatment and a stronger support for these important education profiles was stated by the Albanian Minister of Education and Sports, Ogerta Manastirliu.

“We are committed to continuing the support for schools with an artistic profile and those with a sports one too, and I am convinced that all teachers and those of artistic subjects will support us in another initiative that we have undertaken with the improvement of the law on pre-university education, where, from the next academic year, we will offer special statuses to our artistic and sports schools,” pointed out Minister of Education and Sports, Ogerta Manastirliu during a conversation with the teaching staff of the “Martyrs of Freedom” 9-year school in the capital.

The minister also spoke on the training of teachers within the National Program for the Professional Development of Teachers, where the teachers of this school are also included.

“The National Professional Development Program for teachers is a program that is in the first phase, which consists of the designing of training modules and aspects related to the inclusion of our universities in the massive training that will take place for this year. About 4000 teachers will be included in this professional development training, which is related also to the preparation of teachers for international tests, such as the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Test or the TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey).

Training is a component as we need a re-dimensioning of the entire system related to teacher qualification levels, the career system and therefore we are also doing a re-evaluation of the methodology related to career levels and qualifications to be related to with the increase or financial support of teachers,” Manastirliu said.

Minister Manastirliu also visited the SMART Laboratories that have been set up in this school through the IT Elements Program in Schools.

The 9-year school “Martyrs of Freedom” in the capital is one of the first pre-university education schools to benefit from this initiative, where first and second graders are already learning the coding program.

The Ministry of Education and Sports will continue with investments with the establishment of more than 216 Smart laboratories and extend this project to another 650 schools during the year 2024-2025, which will make it possible for digital education to become part of the curriculum and daily learning of pupils from an early age, but on the other hand will develop critical thinking in them.

/a.p./