3,686 Albanian children in the Presheva Valley have started the new school year without textbooks in their mother tongue, as Serbian authorities continue to block the funds intended to provide them with free books.
The funding for the textbooks has been secured by the Government of Kosovo, but according to representatives of the Albanian community, Serbian institutions are preventing the money from reaching the Albanian National Council effectively blocking the distribution of textbooks to Albanian children in the Presheva Valley.
Enkel Rexhepi, chairman of the Albanian National Council, said the textbooks have been approved and the necessary funds secured, yet the process remains blocked by Serbian institutions.
“The books have been approved. The funds have been secured. The children are sitting in classrooms. But Serbia is preventing the funding that would provide them with free textbooks,” Rexhepi said.
He described the situation as an injustice against thousands of Albanian children in the Presheva Valley who are being denied equal access to education in their own language.
The problem extends beyond primary education. According to former Albanian National Council chairman Ragmi Mustafi, approximately 2,000 Albanian students in three secondary schools in the Preševo Valley are forced to rely heavily on teachers’ dictation and explanations because appropriate Albanian-language textbooks remain unavailable.
Several textbooks have also reportedly failed to receive approval from Serbian authorities, including history textbooks for certain primary-school grades. Albanian representatives say this creates additional obstacles for children in the Preševo Valley who should have the right to study their language, culture and history through appropriate educational materials.
The contrast is stark: last year, 35,448 Albanian-language textbooks were secured for primary-school students in the Preševo Valley and distributed across around 15 schools.
For Albanian families in the Preševo Valley, however, the new school year has once again begun with a basic question left unanswered: why should children be denied textbooks simply because they are being educated in Albanian?
The issue has reportedly been raised with the EU, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and other international actors.
For critics of Serbia’s policies toward the Albanian community in the Preševo Valley, the textbook dispute is yet another example of a broader pattern of discrimination — where even access to education in one’s mother tongue becomes subject to political obstruction.
Children in the Preševo Valley should be opening textbooks on their first day of school — not being forced to wait while Serbia blocks the resources needed to educate them in their own language.
