Every information that is offending or inappropriate in the textbooks will be removed, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Friday referring to the geography textbook for the second year of high school, which will be withdrawn following public reactions that it contained a number of offensive statements to Albanians.
“The Ministry of Education and Science briefed me about the changes of the textbooks that are being prepared for the next school year, the geography textbook will be changed, which has existed since 2002 or 2006, but the problem was first seen in 2018 and now will be changed,” Zaev said told reporters.
First Deputy PM and Minister of Political System and Community Relations Artan Grubi held a working meeting on Thursday with Minister of Education and Science Mila Carovska and former Education Minister and current MP Arber Ademi, during which they discussed education reforms and the law on elementary and high school textbooks.
The three interlocutors, Grubi’s office said in a press release, agreed that in line with the law on elementary and high school textbooks all textbook errors should be reviewed and corrected, starting with the geography textbook for high school sophomores. Grubi, Carovska and Ademi noted that Article 26, paragraph 2 of the textbooks law should be enforced in this and similar cases.
Youth Forum of the Alliance for Albanians sent letter to the Ministry of Education and Science demanding withdrawal of the geography textbook for the second year of high school. The letter stated that parts of the textbook were offensive to the culture, history and other values of the Albanians in the country, were xenophobic and contributed to the stigmatization and encouragement of hate speech against Albanians.
