The pre-university education system is experiencing a sharp decline. Data from the Institute of Statistics shows that around 11,000 children were absent from the school year we just closed, compared to the previous year.
The most significant decrease was experienced in basic education. There were about 7,000 fewer students in 9-year education and 2,565 fewer high school students in school in 2025, compared to the previous year.
"If we interpret it automatically, it is related to the impact of how many children have been born in the last 10 years and what is the population outflow in these areas, because the suburbs and Tirana are different. The fact that we have the largest decrease in 9-year education is what exactly explains the consequence of why we no longer have at least two children per family? So it is directly related to the lack of supportive social and financial policies for young couples. Meanwhile, we wait for the school day to come and say we are childless!", said Suela Kocibellinj - education expert.
The 2.6% drop in school enrollment last year, bringing the total number to nearly 406,000, according to education expert Suela Koçibellinj, is the result of underestimating the number of children over time, coupled with the lack of a dedicated strategy for this phenomenon.
"At least these figures should be taken into consideration to re-dimension, reorganize educational policies. It is not just a figure that was simply reduced, or the alarm that many teachers may feel that I may leave my job... this could be a direct impact. But on the other hand, for the strategy, we need to consider where we are and where we want to go? Because society is aging, because you need to prioritize where you will develop education, to predict in the next 5 years what the contingent will be to enroll in schools, to predict what the need will be for teachers that you need in the market, the most sought-after profiles."
Also worrying are the measures taken to merge 9-year schools with high schools due to the decline in the number of students, causing the closure of educational institutions mainly in rural areas...
"The closure of a school and a health center is of great significance for the extinction of that community."/TCH
