Education Minister Mirela Kumbaro has responded following three days of protests by university and high school students, calling on parents, teachers, and the wider community to work together to ensure the safety of young people and prevent the situation from escalating.
In a message addressed to parents, pupils, and university students, Kumbaro said that young people should have the opportunity to express their grievances, but through dialogue rather than acts of violence.
“It is not university students, it is not school pupils who destroy property,” the minister declared, referring to the damage caused to public property and private businesses during the protests.
She urged parents to look after their children and not allow them, in her view, to become involved in chaotic situations.
“As Minister of Education, but also as a mother, while dark forces spread the dark smoke of destructive firecrackers, whether against public property or private businesses, we must all stand together and not allow our children to become victims of this cloud of smoke,” Kumbaro said.
The minister claimed that some pupils had left the protests following the intervention of their parents, who, according to her, had sought to protect them from clashes.
Kumbaro stressed that classes are continuing as normal in many schools, while announcing that the Ministry of Education is in communication with universities.
She also addressed young people’s right to protest, describing it as legitimate, but calling for grievances to be expressed through communication.
“Let us listen to them and give them the opportunity to speak, not through destruction, but through communication, both you as parents and we as educators,” the minister stated.
In conclusion, Kumbaro also addressed the media, civil society, and local communities, calling for cooperation to prevent what she described as the exploitation of young people for destabilizing purposes.
“Please, first and foremost as parents, but also as citizens of this country, let us not allow our children to be used for the sinister purposes of malicious forces seeking to destabilize Albania,” she concluded.
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