Our new socialist school is the work of the Party. During these 45 years of People’s Power, it has developed in breadth and depth, founded on its directives, especially the guidelines set out at the 8th Plenum of the CC in 1969 for the further revolutionization of our school system, and at the Party congresses, the teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha, and the constant instructions of Comrade Ramiz Alia. It has responded to and anticipated the economic and social developments that have taken place in our country. Over these decades, it has become possible to radically change the educational structure of the population. Whereas before Liberation our country had around 90 percent of its population illiterate, in the new socialist Albania all young people up to the age of 16 complete the eight-year school, which is unified, general and compulsory. More than 400,000 people currently have secondary education, and more than 75,000 have higher education. Secondary education has expanded and become more widespread than any other level, and is gradually becoming education for everyone. This year, 73 percent of pupils who completed eight-year schooling entered secondary education, while in 1995 it is planned that 87 percent of pupils will do so. Revolutionary changes have taken place over these years both in the structure of the school and in its content. All of this has continually raised it to higher stages. Our families, as well as the younger generation, can cope with—and indeed are calling for—a longer period of education. In practical terms, this is clearly demonstrated by the achievements of several advanced districts in developing secondary education. In this context, the need to improve our educational system is becoming increasingly evident, including extending the period of general, compulsory and unified education—that is, moving from eight years of compulsory education to nine years, and imperatively to ten. This extension, especially by two years of compulsory education, would also bring significant changes to full secondary education, further enriching and improving today’s educational system and creating opportunities to further strengthen the quality of our schools. The above measure is consistent with and is also envisaged by the Constitution of the PSR of Albania, whose Article 52 states: “The state aims to raise the level of compulsory education for all.” The need for such a change is also indicated by the discrepancy between the age at which compulsory education ends and the working age under the Labour Code, which is currently a difference of two years. Such an act would not be a formal decision, but a measure of great ideological, political, cultural and organizational importance. Raising the level of compulsory education is ... ... secondary education is undertaken by pupils at a relatively young age and on the basis of the results achieved in the eight-year school, where there are still differences in standards of accountability and in the progress of teaching and educational work. These problems are more concerning in the countryside, where there is a tendency for the good pupils to attend mainly general education and social-cultural schools, while those with weaker academic performance are left for agricultural schools. There are also problems in the transition from eight-year to secondary school, both overall and in the main subjects. Some of them also stem from the conception of the eight-year school as a closed cycle for the main subjects. On the other hand, vocational secondary schools, especially agricultural schools, do not adequately meet the requirements of higher education. Since they are built on the eight-year compulsory education system, the current duration of vocational schools requires planning for the needs for the relevant specialists at least four years in advance. Practical experience shows that the ministries are unable to do this. This is often also due to the rapid pace of changes in production and in our overall situation, which at certain times create urgent demands for mid-level specialists, making it necessary to establish one- to two-year courses alongside the corresponding vocational schools. Establishing vocational schools—professional schools—with a higher level of compulsory schooling would shorten their duration, making them more flexible in response to developments in life and production and creating opportunities to raise the quality of their work. The advantages of a possible extension of compulsory education by one, and especially by two, years are numerous and substantial. This would mark and formalize a new success for our education system, affirming and enshrining the new opportunities available to young people to acquire a sounder culture, while at the same time representing a leap forward in the country’s overall educational and cultural development; it would give young people more equal opportunities to choose their path in life; it would create new conditions for ensuring better continuity between compulsory schooling, say ten-year schooling— students who completed eight-year schooling, while in 1995 it is envisaged that 87 percent of students will be enrolled in it. this has continually raised it to higher qualitative stages. Alongside the achievements, new problems have also emerged. At the same time, opportunities have been created to solve them, both to improve the education system and further revolutionize the content of schooling and teaching methods in all three of its components, as well as to increase its educational role and further democratize school life. To find lasting solutions to these problems, it is necessary to understand well the patterns and trends in our country’s social and economic development. At present, these developments, together with the introduction and spread of new techniques and technologies, call for people with ever higher levels of education. Today, and looking ahead, it can be seen that eight-year schooling is becoming increasingly insufficient to meet the demands of the tasks. This trend is becoming more pronounced. Society itself... Raising the level of compulsory education is in keeping with the rapid growth and expansion of full secondary education and, in support of it, would serve as a transitional stage before later moving realistically toward secondary education for all. Alongside these socioeconomic factors, there are other pedagogical, psychological and educational factors that make it necessary to raise the level of education of the younger generation. As is known, in secondary schools of different profiles, students do not attain the same level of general cultural education. This disparity is more pronounced today between general secondary schools and agricultural schools, where around 50 percent of students are educated. Further reducing this disparity points to the need for agricultural and vocational education as a whole to converge with general education. Extending uniform compulsory education makes this possible. At present, the choice of profile... ...tion under the Labour Code, which currently has a two-year difference. education makes this possible. (Continued on page 2)

— The 45th anniversary of the Professional Unions of Albania was celebrated with enthusiasm — The city of Korçë, Hero of Socialist Labour, was celebrating on Sunday. Early in the morning, thousands of people, residents of the city and other guests at the celebration, gathered in Demonstration Square. Also present were Comrades Besnik Bekteshi, Pali Miska, Rita Marko, the First Secretary of the District Party Committee, Comrade Vangjel Çërrava, Central Committee member Pilo Peristeri, members of the Party Central Committee, the Presidium of the People’s Council, the Government, and others. The rally was opened by Suzana Musta, a leading worker at the garment production enterprise. Comrade Besnik Bekteshi offered greetings at this fine celebration. The address for the occasion was delivered by Sotor Kocollari, president of the General Council of the Professional Unions of Albania. The celebration of this jubilee of our organization, he said, among other things, coincides with the joyful atmosphere created throughout the Homeland by the very important decisions of the 9th Plenum of the Party CC and the speech delivered by the beloved leader of our Party and people, Comrade Ramiz Alia. These decisions will deepen and give a powerful new impetus to the revolutionization of Party life and the life of the entire country. In keeping with the stage of development and the circumstances we are going through, they confirm once again that the people are the masters of our country and of the destiny of socialism. The working class and all our people welcomed them with great enthusiasm, because they guarantee socialist continuity, the freedom and independence of the Homeland, along the right path that our people, with the Party at their head, have chosen for themselves. The implementation of these decisions rests firmly on the unity of our people, on the unbreakable alliance of the working class with the peasantry and the intelligentsia, and above all on the leading role of our Party of Labour, the fundamental condition on which the country’s present and future depend. In this revolutionary process, our working class will once again demonstrate its determination to uphold its communist ideals, its political commitment, its militancy and its high readiness to stand at the forefront of work and hardship as an irreplaceable political and transformative force. (Continued on page 3) (Photo: ATSH)

At the five-year-plan projects The builders of the new fertilizer plant in the district of Fier deserve recognition. Following the decision of the Party CC’s 9th Plenum, they are applying new forms of remuneration based on the work they carry out under a target plan or on a contract basis. This approach has further increased their mobilization and, as a result, construction has accelerated. Deadlines have been shortened at many facilities that are now at the handover stage. At the cooling towers, where the brigades led by Llambi Meco, Liman Gjini and Mustafa Avdia are working, the volume of work was determined according to the workforce assigned to it. On this basis, the remuneration for each brigade and individual was calculated. Taking into account the shortening of construction deadlines resulting from exceeding the tasks assigned under contract, the workers’ pay also increased. “In this way, the construction period for the cooling tower was shortened by a further seven days,” says the chief engineer of the industrial construction enterprise, Shpëtim (Continued on page 2)

— GRAMSH — If 10 water supply systems were built in the district of Gramsh last year, 37 are planned for this year. Clearly, this year’s task is greater than in previous years, bearing in mind that the deficits from past years are also to be made up this year. But what measures are being taken for their construction? Xhevat Zenell, head of the municipal section at the district People’s Council executive committee, explains: “January passed without us doing any work at all on the water supply systems. We were held up, not through any fault of the enterprises or cooperatives, but because the water-supply projects reached us only three or four days ago from the relevant directorate of the Ministry of Communal Economy. If they had reached us in December, January and these days in February could have been used properly to dig the channels. When I say th— (Continued on page 2)

WORKERS MITI RAMA AND THOMA VANTI IN THE ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT OF FIER’S UMB DURING THE FINAL INSPECTION OF SILAGE CHOPPING MACHINES. (Photo: L. Hoti - ATSH)

Dear comrades, men and women, In the beautiful city of Korçë, renowned in history for its glorious traditions of struggle and work, today we are commemorating an important event in the life of our working class and all working people: the 45th anniversary of the founding of the organization of the Professional Unions of Albania. On this fine occasion, I have the great honor of conveying to you the warmest greetings of the Party Central Committee and, personally, of our beloved leader, Comrade Ramiz Alia, and of wishing the working class and all our workers success and continued honor in their revolutionary work and activity to build socialism and defend the homeland. The militant organization of the Professional Unions was born and grew amid the waves of our socialist revolution, through the transformative processes of building the new Albania, developing industry and agriculture, education and culture, science and technology, and creating our new person with a communist worldview and morality. Today it represents a powerful organization enjoying the respect, trust and broad support of all working people; a militant organization which, under the Party’s leadership, makes a major contribution to educating the masses in Marxist-Leninist ideology and the revolutionary class spirit, inspiring and mobilizing them to strengthen People’s Power ever further and to advance the immortal work of our dear and unforgettable leader, Comrade Enver Hoxha. When we recall the road from which we set out, when we compare today’s reality with that of forty-five years ago, we feel proud and stand tall before history. The path of development we followed—the socialism we built by relying on our own material and human forces—proved itself to be an unquestionably superior order in every field. It gave our people everything they had suffered for over the centuries; through struggle it secured for them true freedom and independence, work and education, and democratic rights never before seen. Tempered in the fierce battles of the class struggle that we had to face against internal and external enemies, our working class has always remained loyal to the Party. Through its work and heroic deeds, it demonstrated that, when guided by a clear strategy and high ideals cherished by the whole people, it can overcome every difficulty and obstacle, overcome in a short period the backwardness inherited from the centuries, and refuse to submit to encirclement and blockades, however strong and harsh they may be. For our working class, nothing is and can be dearer than the independence of the homeland, and than working and struggling to make life more prosperous. It has always exercised its power in a real way and has not allowed, nor will it ever allow, the regressive processes taking place in the countries of Eastern Europe to happen here. It is with this class spirit and with a profound sense of responsibility for the destiny of the homeland that our dear Party has educated the working class, teaching it how to govern the country and develop (Continued on page 3)

Because scrap metal is not being delivered to us, steel production is being hindered The steelworks at the «Steel of the Party» metallurgical complex obtains a large part of its raw materials from the delivery of scrap metal that has been taken out of service. Last year, we were not given 4,000 tons of such scrap metal. But we noticed the same attitude in the first weeks of 1990 as well. We are waiting—and are even concerned—because this material supply, although planned, is not arriving. When do the relevant agencies intend to address the collection and transport of this scrap metal to our complex? FADIL NUHU JANI RANXHA workers at the steelworks of the «Steel of the Party» metallurgical complex, Elbasan