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4-hour school, parents' nightmare/ The state's forgotten promise to extend the hours

2026-05-22 11:24:00, Aktualitet Sonila Nukaj

For thousands of primary school children in our country, midday marks the end of school. But for their parents, this period is the beginning of a daily logistical nightmare. While the Albanian labour market operates on a standard eight-hour schedule, the primary cycle of our education system closes after just four hours.

The question that remains unanswered every day for young families is simple, yet painful: Where to leave seven- or eight-year-old children when the parents are still at the office?

The current infrastructure is forcing families to face a difficult reality. Unable to afford private after-school centers, which often cost half of an average salary, many parents are forced to make a huge economic sacrifice. In the vast majority of cases, it is mothers who are forced to quit their jobs or give up their careers to become full-time caregivers. This decision not only plunges the family budget into crisis, but also takes a large workforce that would otherwise contribute to the country's economy out of the labor market.

Promises from institutions to resolve this mess have not been lacking on public agendas. For years, the project to expand schools as community centers and extend children's stay until 4:00 PM has been trumpeted.

This plan envisioned an environment where children would not only learn, but under the supervision of teachers would eat lunch, do homework, and engage in recreational or sports activities. But today, this project remains simply an isolated experiment in a few pilot schools, while for the general public there is still no concrete national plan or a deadline for when it will be extended throughout the country.

Beyond the financial bill and stress for parents, this system is directly harming the children themselves. Without a proper after-school structure, little ones who stay home alone end up isolated in front of their phones or television screens.

Education experts raise the alarm that doing homework without professional assistance creates a learning gap, while the lack of warm, controlled food in schools harms their health as they grow up.

While European Union countries and the region have solved this problem by synchronizing school schedules with parents' work schedules, in Albania the burden of raising children is once again left to grandparents or career sacrifice. Until institutions move from promises on paper to concrete budgeting, Albanian schools will continue to be simply a place to spend a few hours, and not the safe space that shapes generations and supports the family. /CNA