The new State Matura Scheme has left thousands of high school graduates out of the top lists of winners, adding rumors that demand the resignation of education minister LinditaNikolla, who is accused of favoring private universities.
Two high school students Sami Frasheri, part of a German bilingual education project, were part of a group of several hundred students who gathered on Wednesday to protest in front of the Tirana government building after being left out of the winners’ Albanian public universities.
Following a decision by the Minister of Education during the summer months, the average grade of both 18-year-olds was revalued from 9.8 and 10.15 to 9.2 and 9.44. For their amazement, although they have not been selected in the preliminary list of winners in Albanian public universities, they have gained the right to study medicine and architecture in Germany.
“We would have wanted to apply the system we agreed upon when we started school. The new system was built to give all quotes to students on average 9.8-10, but the criteria came out after we completed the matura, “they explained to BIRN.
The two graduates, who refused to be identified by name fearing that they might have consequences from the authorities, were pessimistic that publishing the second round of winning lists would solve their problem, underlining that it would again be given the opportunity choice a small number of winners.
Publication of non-final winners lists at Albanian universities earlier this week was accompanied by the panic of thousands of high school graduates who did not win any branches, despite the high average and good grades of three years.
Education Minister LinditaNikolla reacted on Tuesday evening stating that the lists are not final and that 24,000 graduates from 27,000 applicants will be able to attend a branch at state universities.
“The new system is transparent, brings more merit. What you see today is not the final list of winners, “Nicholas added in a meeting with students on Monday.
The new system
This year’s changes to the system of winning winners in universities give priority to excellence students, who are announced as winners in several branches simultaneously and occupy these places until they choose one of them – drawing out the other candidates’ lists.
Another reason why thousands of graduates have been found so far out of any faculty are the last minute changes by the education ministry to calculate the scores of each student depending on the subject matter and the weight she holds at the faculty that the student is competing.
The current scheme divides the score by 50 percent, the average of three years of schooling and that of matriculation exams and 50 percent in the average of advanced classes.
Pupils say the removal of the weighted average, which returned to the arithmetic average, has drastically reduced their score and the advanced course valuation changes have equaled the weight of difficult subjects with that of the simplest subjects.
On Wednesday, hundreds of students gathered in front of the premiership to denounce the new Matura system, which entitles them to select only one small group of applicants in the first phase. They expressed their revolt for the lack of transparency of the selection process of the winners and denounced the discrepancy of their grades by winning a country at the faculty.
The protesters called “Shame” and “We want to get educated” as they asked the education ministry and prime minister to intervene to fix the system of winners’ selection so that all high grade applicants attending higher education by branches selected.
The high school graduates took the megaphone to confess their personal experience of non-inclusion in none of the winners’ previous lists and accusing the ministry of not having managed the process transparently and demanded the resignation of the minister of education.
“We are shocked. We can not understand what really happened or how is it possible that with an average of 9, I would not win any branch in any faculty, “a graduate from” Petro Nini “gymnasium in Tirana told BIRN.
“Twelve years of school are rated me zero. The current system is so unfair that despite a high average, the ranking goes thousands of countries below the accession line. Even in the other stages of qualification when the quota is released I have no chance of approaching the branch I want and that I could win with the old system, “she added.
Parents worried
Their parents joined their protesters. Speaking to BIRN, the mother of a high school student “Ismail Qemali” was very concerned about the psychological damage of the system failure to her daughter.
“Since leaving the lists, my daughter is so sad that she does not break the tears. Some of her friends have even started using antidepressant medicines, “said the mature parent.
“A year ago, the greatest daughter gained the branch she wanted without any problems, thanks to the merit-preference system. The second girl today, an excellent student is left out of every faculty, “she added.
“I am very disappointed with the education in Albania and I ask the institutions to intervene not to allow the destruction of the dreams of these students who have learned for 12 years on a continuous basis,” she concluded.
Other parents told BIRN that the current scheme forces Albanian families to strain the belt and bring their children to private universities not to deprive them of their dream branch, which the state does not provide.
“Our children have been devoted to teaching for years because they knew that merit would give the future they dreamed because our financial situation can not afford their education in private,” BIRN’s parent told a matura.
“It now seems that all this failure has the sole aim of directing students from private universities,” he added.
Others, like the two bilingual students at the Sami Frasheri secondary school, look at solving just by going abroad to study.
“We will try to build our lives outside of Albania because we see no stimulus for youth here,” BIRN told SETimes.
