By Sonila Isaku
Private or public education? This is the dilemma of each parent at the start of the new academic year. Many parents believe that public schools offer better quality of teaching, but it lacks other conditions, because schools are filled with 35 or 40 children, the infrastructure is poor and many families must also pay a babysitter to pick up the child from school and stay with them while parents are at work.
Other parents believe that choosing a private school is the most ideal thing, because the child is at school from 8 am to 4 pm. But in this case, children must face monthly payments which could add up to half of their monthly salary or even more.
Pre-university education and 9th grade schools
A private kindergarten or a public one? Parents have certainly regretted the fact that they’ve sent children to public kindergartens, because each group in these kindergartens consists of 40-50 children. But, the kindergarten teachers say that the situation is not like this, because a part of the children do not come every day. For those parents who are unable to afford private kindergartens, they must pay 160 lek/day per child. Meanwhile, the cost of sending children to private kindergartens is 8 thousand a month for those that do not offer lunch and 25 thousand a month for those kindergartens that offer food, education and transport.
Pre-university education
The situation seems different in high schools, because of children decide to educate their children in public schools, they must pay for monthly private classes. If a youngster wants to study engineering or medicine, he must attend at least 4 private classes a week which have a cost of 1 thousand lek per hour. To send their kids to private middle schools, parents must pay from 15 000 to 35 000 lek a month.
While government programs talk of better policies and reforms, each month, parents need to pay up to a monthly salary for the education of their children. Finding themselves in front of these situations and facts, parents continue to experiment with both realities, in both private and state system by paying each month for the education of their children.
How much is paid for children’s education each month
Kindergartens
Payments for private kindergartens
Kindergartens that don’t offer lunch 8000-12 000 lek/month
Kindergartens offering lunch 14.000-25.000 lek/month
Payment for public kindergartens
Daily fee 160 lek/day
9th grade schools
Private schools ranging from 12.000 to 30.000 lek a month
Public schools are free
High schools
Private schools ranging from 15.000 to 35.000 lek a month
Public schools are free
