Last January, when the government ordered the closure of schools under the pretext of an influenza epidemic, many media channels and citizens responded that not the flu, but the absence of proper heating in most schools was the true reason of the government’s decision. During the cold wave of January, students would have frozen in their classrooms.
Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj openly contradicted this fact, by declaring on January 16:
For all those who complain about the cold and the heating system in schools, I remind them that until a year ago they ruled Tirana. They left us 200 schools of which only two hadheating, while today we only have two without heating.
First of all, the number of schools mentioned by Mayor Veliaj seems hardly realistic and quite inflated. On the website of the municipality there is no information regarding the number of schools in Tirana, while on the website of the Ministry of Education and Sports are listed 53 elementary school, 15 general high schools, and 8 professional high schools, in total 76.
Second, a study of the Albanian Platform for Policy Advocacy (APPA) in 15 high schools in Tirana during the period January–February 2017 in fact shows the opposite of what is claimed by the municipality.
According to APPA, about half of the gymnasiums in Tirana, all of which are under the responsibility of the municipality, have no heating whatsoever.
In none of the high schools there is heating, not even in those which have a heating system installed.
The scandal becomes worse when we consider that in 9 of them, education is given in two shifts, which means that a considerable part of the students is forced to follow their classes in the late afternoon and evenings, when the temperatures drop.
It is unclear which are the schools that Mayor Veliaj talked about, when he said that there were 200 with only 2 lacking proper heating. 15 high schools have passed the harsh winter, except the free days granted by the Ministry of Education, without any heating whatsoever.
As regards the other 53 elementary schools and the 8 professional high schools, the situation is still not clear. Minister of Education Lindita Nikolla, different from Mayor Erion Veliaj, has chosen to remain silent and refuses to answer any question about the heating situation.
