The foundation of educational institutions in Pristina

Among the first schools known in Pristina were those opened during the Ottoman period, before 1912.^[1] Albanians were allowed to attend these schools, most of which were religious, with only few of them being secular.^[1] During 1913, in Pristina, few Serbian-language primary schools and gymnasiums were opened.^[2] 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.^[2] 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.^[2] In 1916, the Bulgarian National Gymnasium was opened in Pristina.^[2] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[1] During this period, the most marginalized group who was deprived from attending schools were girls coming from Muslim families.^[1]

During the World War II Kosovo joined with Albania under Italian occupation.^[1] 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.^[1] Besides hundreds of primary schools opened in Pristina, the first high school in Albanian in this municipality, Sami Frasheri, was also founded.^[3] 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.^[1] In 1968, the constitution was amended to allow the opening of Albanian-language schools at all levels.^[1] After the WWII, education in Kosovo was provided in three languages: Serbian, Albanian, and Turkish,^[1] while after 1953 lessons in these three languages were offered in the same school.^[1]

After 1968, the foundation of Albanian-language educational institutions continued.^[1] In 1969, the Albanian University of Pristina was opened.^[1] Texts and teaching materials were imported from Albania, as part of an agreement between the University of Tirana and that of Pristina in 1970.^[1] In 1981, the University of Pristina consisted of 75 per cent ethnic Albanians out of the 47,000 students attending it.^[1] 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.^[4] As a result of violent student riots, restrictions in the education of Albanians were imposed again.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[1] Further, students who wanted to enter secondary schools had to pass a Serbian language test.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[5] Among the first changes to be adopted in 2001 were the new curriculum framework and changes in the organization of educational system.^[6] 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

Primary and lower-secondary education was based on the 5 + 4 years model since the academic year 2004/05.^[16] In Pristina, in the same academic year, there were 60 primary and lower-secondary schools that provide instruction only in Albanian.^[16] 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.^[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.^[18] These schools were attended by 34,703 Albanian, 32 Bosnian students, 30 Ashkali, 1 Roma and 199 Turkish students.^[19]

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.^[20] In the academic year 2004/05, there were 12 schools in Pristina that offered lectures only in Albanian.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22]

In regards to Special Education Institutions, during the period after the conflict and prior to the Independence of Kosovo, there was only one school in Pristina, "Perparimi."^[23] In addition, in the academic year 2004/05 there were a total of 7 private schools: 1 preschool, 3 primary schools, and 3 high schools.^[24] University of Pristina during this period was highly decentralized. It had fourteen faculties and six higher schools. As of 2001, there were more than 19,000 students enrolled.^[11]

The context during after Kosovo's Declaration of Independence

Challenges in the education sector

The local government elections of 2013 produced a new leadership in the Municipality of Pristina. The new mayor of Pristina, Shpend Ahmeti representing the 'Vetevendosje' or self-determination movement highlighted that during his mandate the area of education is the main priority.

Currently in the city of Pristina there are only eight public preschools, in which 1,886 children attend education while overall there are 2,074 pupils aged 5–6 years attend pre-primary class in Pristina. 80 percent of children aged 0–6 years are outside the system. In fact, families who succeed to enrol their children in public kindergartens are very privileged because demand exceeds supply up to tenfold. Based on the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, during years 2011 and 2012 in Pristina there were 7,685 children born from mothers with permanent residence in Pristina.

Structure and attributes of education institutions in Pristina

Education in Kosovo consists of pre-primary education, primary and lower-secondary education, upper-secondary education, and university education:^[29]

Special considerations to the education system in Pristina

Other educational institutions in Pristina

The National Library of Kosovo, which has been known with different names throughout the history of Kosovo, is an important educational institution for the city of Pristina.^[44] The current building was inaugurated on November 25, 1982. It has a space of 16,500 square meters and it consists of 99 domes.^[44] This Library serves as the central librarian institution of Kosovo and as center of librarian information in national level.^[44]

Another important library for the city of Pristina is the city library "Hivzi Sulejmani."^[45] This library was supposedly founded in 1945, but has started work in current object in 1947.^[45] During 1953-1956 it has played the role of the national library since the Kosovo National Library was closed.^[45]

Academy of Sciences and Art is a necessary institution for the education system that is placed in Pristina.^[46] This institution was founded in 1975 as the Association of Science and Arts of Kosovo.^[46] On April 18, 1978, the Association was transformed into the Academy of Sciences and Art. The role of this academy was and is to contribute in scientific research.^[46]