ALBANIAN COALITION FOR CHILD EDUCATION JOINS THE MEETING OF THE PARILAMENTARY GROUP “ FRIENDS OF CHILDRENâ€‌

Albanian Coalition for Child Education (ACCE), participated in the first meeting of the parliamentary group “Friends of Childrenâ€‌. In the meeting organized under the care of Albanian Parliament in collaboration of UNICEF and Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania were present the speaker of the Albanian Parliament, representative of UNICEF, deputies, representatives of CSOs and public administration.

The parliamentary group “Friends of Childrenâ€‌ is composed by 24 deputies and functions as a ad-hoc group in the Albanian Parliament.  This group constitutes the most influencing voice that lobbies for the respect, protection and improvement of the rights of children and young people.

During the meeting, the national coordinator o ACCE, Ms. L.Pino brought in the attention of the participants some of the problems that children face with the access to education. During her speech, she declared that poor children, children with disabilities, Roma children and young girls face many barriers that prevent them to attend the schools as their peers.

Some of the recommendations delivered during the meeting are as follows:

v  Increase the budget allocated to education by 5% of GDP;

v  Adoption of a decision of the council of ministers on the provision of free meals in every school for all children;

v  Monitoring the standards of schools infrastructure, teachers’ qualification and professional development and guarantee that teaching materials are developed to fulfil children’s needs;

v  The provision of free textbooks for all children in need that attend the public compulsory education;

v  Guarantee the presence of professional and well-trained supporting teachers in every school attended by children with disabilities;

v  The review of welfare schemes in order to increase the cash assistance for every family that has in its nucleus children that attend the public compulsory education