Students are forced to read novels with inappropriate content

Titles of books with inadequate content and that do not coincide with the current period, students are forced to read them, experts in the field of education have assessed.

"Beni walks on his own" by Kiço Blushi, "Sarajet e Bardha" by Vehbi Kikaj, and "Verorja" by Rexhep Hoxha, are some of the novels that are part of the list of books that educational institutions include in their curriculum.

In one of the books, which is recommended for third graders, it talks about the social status of a girl. "On the lap of the grandmother" is the name of the book by Anton Çetta, where it is said that the girl "at a fairly mature age, still unmarried, was left at the door".

The student at the "Xhevdet Doda" gymnasium, Sara Česko, said that books with such content reduce the desire to read.

"I believe that one of the factors why we have not developed the culture of reading is the negligence of teachers. It is true that there are very good professors, but I believe that they should be retested and especially professors and teachers should work hard with their students", said Česko, who is the president of the Student Council of Prishtina, in the framework of the Council of Students of Kosovo.

According to the curriculum, students are obliged to read a book every month. Their selection is done by the teachers. According to an analysis made by the Ministry of Education in Great Britain, it turns out that the culture of reading increases by allowing students to select the titles of books themselves.

The teacher at the Green School, Fatbardha Ahmeti, said that when the students show interest, she leaves the selection of books in their hands.

"The curriculum gives us the space to use other sources and we are free in the selection of books, in fact with the selection of books we try to stick to Albanian authors, but there are times when we also read foreign authors that have been translated into the Albanian language ", she said.

According to a research by the ETEA organization, 70 percent of high school students cannot count three titles of books they have read in their entire life.

Agon Ahmeti, director of this organization, says that the fault lies with parents and teachers.

"We have students and parents who are also not interested in developing the culture of reading and in students to complete their school obligations and have a desirable success, often to post it on social networks for short-term pride", Ahmeti said. . "We have the third category that gives the book on a monthly basis, but it is not that they are updated, we are talking about books and readings that were read by our parents, they still continue to be read, since in principle it turned out that they are not in the interest of the latter ", he said.

The results of the international PISA test have also highlighted the lack of reading skills. Kosovar students ranked 76th in reading, out of 80 participating countries. According to the report, 83 percent of students cannot understand a medium-length text.