The Minister of Education, Mirela Kumbaro, seems to prioritize festive posts, while within a month a teenager has died and several others have been injured. The fight between students of the “Shejnaze Juka” High School in Shkodra today could have ended in tragedy. Fortunately, the conflict ended with three injured, who are in hospital out of danger.
Mrs. Kumbaro has not given any public reaction after all these events, while among the festive posts that she has started earlier than necessary, the roundtable on "online child protection" held on December 9th seems completely out of reality, an activity that has not produced any tangible results, especially when many of the conflicts between young people start precisely on social networks, such as TikTok, which the government tried to close but failed.
The Minister of Interior, Albana Koçiu, instead of seriously dealing with the wave of violent clashes between minors, continues to focus on secondary issues, such as unlicensed kiosks or skateboards. Even the platform that promised to place security officers in schools, who would protect students from violence and online dangers, remained simply a statement to the media.
Instead of addressing this alarming situation, the government seems stuck in propaganda, with promises that only work for the next post on social media, not for preventing a phenomenon that is taking the lives of young people.
The events are neither isolated nor unexpected, they show a clear pattern, which institutions seem to refuse to see.
Just a few days ago, in Durrës, 15-year-old Erjon Boba lost his life after a conflict between teenagers. In October, at the “Ibrahim Rugova” high school in Kamëz, two minors were injured during a fight between peers. Meanwhile, it has not yet been a year since the case of Martin Cani, who lost his life near the “Fan Noli” school in Tirana.
Thus, in conditions of institutional lethargy and political neglect, schools that should be examples of knowledge, education, and safety are being transformed into scenes of violence among young people. We hope that institutions will wake up before the next chronicle arrives.
