English
For many years, education has been a field where political interests clashed, but since I became minister, I have constantly repeated and made it clear that politics must keep its hands off education, because this is not a platitude but a reality – education is one of the strongest pillars of the state and is needed in all sectors. The entire human capital that the state has comes from the education system, said Education Minister Vesna Janevska in an interview with MIA, discussing the three laws for the promotion of higher education, which are currently “stuck” in the Parliament.
Yes, the laws are in parliamentary procedure and the first public debate on all three laws could not continue, because, in some way, the debate was blocked so that we could finally agree, in fact, the Parliament decided that it would continue at the end of August. The problem is that for all laws in education, there is a need to use the dual ethnic Badinter majority, which was once used as a positive tool for preserving the rights of smaller ethnic communities in the country. But the fact is, we have reliable evidence and statistics that sometimes this tool is used incorrectly, and even abused. Hence, I would just like to say that these three laws are laws that benefit our youth, students, all students, from all ethnicities and from all political parties. So if we talk about Badinter, we are talking about, let’s say, parties in which most Albanians are members, it is also about their children. Although all children are ours, there are no yours, ours, this is one single state and it is for the benefit of all our students, regardless of what profession they are in, what faculty and what university, said Janevska.
At the same time, she emphasizes, the law only improves the quality – of the teaching staff, of the learning conditions, the opportunities that students will receive, the opportunities that teachers will receive.
There were many discussions regarding the selection criteria, all of that has been overcome because we had such a broad and long-lasting debate, both at ENER, written and oral, that I believe that the majority of the academic community truly accepts the laws. There are always people who will find some flaw. Hence, I believe that reason will prevail and that the Parliament will gather strength to overcome political issues, that is, so that these three laws are not issues that will be resolved by some other issue. All issues should be resolved by the state, in an easier, perhaps more difficult way, but education must not be included in the resolution of other issues. Especially because we are, indeed, a little late and we do not have time to insert and argue politically about something that is so very important. I am deeply convinced that reason will prevail because, I repeat, it is for the benefit of all young people in the country, said Janevska.