Holidays in Albania - Teacher's Day

On the eve of International Women's Day, Albania hosts a celebration dedicated to teachers. Every year on March 7, teachers accept congratulations from their students, colleagues and everyone who cares about this holiday. Festive concerts, greeting cards and a bouquet of mimosa are mandatory attributes of Teacher's Day in Albania. Albanians understand that the work of a teacher deserves respect and recognition, because it is teachers who educate the future generation. Today's education system in Albania allows one to obtain enough basic knowledge to continue further education. However, the situation did not always look like this. Back in the middle of the 20th century. more than half of Albania's population was illiterate. Being constantly under someone's influence - Turks, Greeks, Serbs - Albanians had no right to choose. The few schools that existed taught in Greek or Turkish. In addition, only boys were accepted there, most of the time was devoted to religious education, and in addition, physical punishment was allowed as educational measures. The very first school that changed its views on the education system was a school in the southeast of the country, in the town of Korça. It became the first educational institution in which lessons were taught in the native Albanian language and girls had the right to study. It was this event that served as the date for choosing the holiday date for Teacher's Day. After this, several more schools were opened in which the Albanian language was allowed. This was not enough to make education accessible. Only starting in 1920, the situation changed: first the Ministry of Education was created, then the right to education was spelled out in the Constitution. But Albanians were able to receive higher education in their country only three decades later, when in 1951 three universities were inaugurated in the country.