By Ilda.Hoxha
After nearly three decades, children in Zall Dajt village in Tirana will be able to attend preschool and kindergarten. This issue was resolved after an article published by Faktoje in November. Based on a verification we conducted at this school in December, parents expressed their excitement about their children finally being able to start their learning journey similarly to their peers in the capital city.
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A month and a half ago, more precisely on November 10, Faktoje published an article that, inter alia, included the lack of a kindergarten and preschool in Zall Dajt, a village located just 15 km from the capital center.
As regards this issue, we addressed a request for information to Tirana Municipality, inquiring whether the latter was aware of this matter and what would the intended solution for the children in this area be.
Request for information addressed to Tirana Municipality, December 2, 2021
Two weeks after the said request, we received a reply by the General Directorate of Kindergartens and Nurseries, an institution subordinate to Tirana Municipality, confirming the good news for children in Zall Dajt.
The reply dated December 15 was delivered by mail to Faktoje offices on December 17, and the GDKN informs that the preschool service provision had commenced on December 16.
“Following the communication with the principal of the “Hamdi Mansaku” 9-year school in Zall Dajt and Zall Bastar Administrative Unit, the necessary verifications were carried out by the GDKN monitoring group, for the purpose of preschool service provision to children in the Zall Bastar Administrative Unit, Zall Dajt group, which will operate in the building of “Hamdi Mansaku” school, in Zall Dajt.
As per the above, in reference to the list of names of the preschool group children in Zall Dajt, the GDKN has followed the necessary procedures to establish this group, starting from 16.12.2021 and thereafter” – the General Directorate of Kindergartens and Nurseries stated.
After the reply of the GDKN, Faktoje decided to conduct a field verification to establish whether the preschool service in Zall Dajt was functional. We met with teachers and parents, who confirmed that the preschool service was established in the premises of the “Hamdi Mansaku” collective school.
The group composed of 18 children aged 3-5 years old had their own teacher. Therefore, it was a kindergarten and preschool in a single classroom because, according to the teachers and parents, the number of children was too small to separate them.
“Children aged 3-5 years are admitted and the group comprises 18 children and has its own teacher. The classroom hours are 9:00-14:00 and teaching started over a week ago”, teachers stated.
Photo of the preschool in Zall Dajt, December 2021
Suela, the parent of a 4-year-old girl, told Faktoje that she is ecstatic that her daughter will now attend kindergarten. She added that after 29 years, this area has a kindergarten again, and shared the numerous issues they had faced with the children over the years.
“My daughter is 4 and attends kindergarten. I am very happy and these first days have gone well. We will see how things go. The teacher is great and polite, and the children are satisfied. My daughter looks forward to going to kindergarten every morning.
We have complained about the lack of a kindergarten in the area for many years. Since I was a child, 28-29 years ago, there has been no kindergarten. So far things are good. My daughter is learning numbers and coloring. The main thing is that the child develops, prepares for school, and socializes. This is a great relief to us parents. We work comfortably and are relaxed because our children are safe” – she said.
Photo of the preschool in Zall Dajt, December 2021
Meanwhile, Meleqe, the mother of a 3-year-old child, expressed her excitement about her son spending a large part of the day with peers.
“We are very happy. Before, we had to keep the children home, making great sacrifices, and had to teach them ourselves. We went through these hardships with our nieces and nephews, had to teach everything from the beginning. It was tiresome as we had to teach them numbers from 1 and the alphabet from the letter A, everything.
The child now feels a sense of obligation to learn by being with peers, while at home they would disobey. At home they considered it a game and would spend all day watching television. Now, the children are excited when they receive a “star” in kindergarten and attend willingly” – she said.
The lack of a preschool and kindergarten in this area had impacted tens of children, who had to attend first grade directly in collective classrooms, without even learning the basics, such as numbers and letters.
