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RTK, Pristina
12 07 2006 
The latest "Life in Kosovo" debate looked at the problems facing
elementary and high school education, focusing particularly on poor
final examination results and government reforms.
The debating panel comprised Mustafe Kadriu, an education ministry
official responsible for compiling the tests; Halim Hyseni of the NGO
Kosovo Education Centre; Isuf Zeneli, former secretary of the education ministry; and Nysrete Krasniqi, a teacher.
The
debate, attended by a number of students, came at a critical time in
secondary school education, with figures showing that 40 per cent of
pupils are failing university-entrance examinations.
Kadriu,
who was concerned about the low results, said that "students would
achieve more if they would just read carefully the questions and not
try to cheat and steal the answers from their classmates".
Hyseni criticised the government for not implementing education reforms.
"It has declared many times that education is a priority, but I have not noticed any developments so far," he said.
Zeneli
defended the current system, insisting that it was based on European
standards of education. " I admit that some reforms have not been
implemented," he said, but added that it would be a mistake to rush
changes through.
Krasniqi spoke of the achievments of the
past, particularly the sacrifices teachers made in the Nineties when a
parallel system of education existed.
He criticised the
current curriculum, saying that students were overburdened. "How can a
9th grade student study 21 subjects in one academic year?" he asked.
Krasniqi
also asserted that the government had no excuse for not investing in
education,"I cannot believe it when the government says there is no
money for teachers when we can see that there is always money for
luxury cars, expensive dinners."
The panelists concluded that
the poor examination results were the result of the weak reforms, lack
of commitment from officials and the fact that the new generation of
students is reading less.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
