Freedom Party MP Erisa Xhixho, in her speech in the Assembly, emphasized that she had requested the Minister of Education during the session, following concerns raised that 11,172 education employees had their money stolen.

During her speech, Xixho demanded that their money be returned, as she says they were being taken away from 20-60 thousand old lek per month.

I requested this session with the Minister of Education due to a real concern of 11,172 teaching staff.

Government Decision No. 425, dated June 26, 2024, has unfairly taken away from teachers between 20 and 60 thousand old lek per month, withholding from their full salary not for one month, but for a year and a half. So, this government not only did not increase salaries, but in fact has unfairly, flagrantly, taken away from teachers up to 1 million old lek.

And not only is there no apology for this scandalous, deliberate mistake, after not listening to teachers for months, but the bill that was intended to correct this injustice was presented half-heartedly. It creates another discrimination in teachers' careers and does not include the amendment I proposed, which provided for the coverage of the financial effects for another year and a half of unpaid leave.

Today, teachers are also facing a serious economic crisis. Food prices have increased by 50%: tomatoes have reached 5 old lekë, while flour and oil have also increased.

The price of diesel has also increased, reaching around 220 lek per liter, further burdening the budget of teachers' families. It should not be forgotten that around 60% of this price is made up of government taxes.

We are talking about the basic survival skills of teachers who must teach under these conditions.

So, the question is: do you intend to return to teachers the money that has been unfairly withheld from them for a year and a half?

Today, I ask you to urgently bring the amendment to the law to Parliament, so that the financial effects are implemented from the moment this money was withheld by government decision.

Return 1 million lek to each teacher. I understand that your standard is 33 thousand euros of wine and 4.2 million euros of "Garden of Eden" for the pleasure of the Prime Minister, but the teachers want the money that was unjustly taken from them.

Dear Minister,

I know very well that every decision in this country is made by Edi Rama and you simply follow his orders. That's why you come out in front of the teachers and, when you unjustly take their money, you don't give it back. This clearly shows that you have zero sensitivity towards working people and zero sensitivity towards the deep crisis that teachers in this country are experiencing today.

But teachers today face another major problem, caused by this government.

After 15 years in the system, educating our children, today the government is telling them that all teachers who graduated before 2011 must be licensed. So, the diplomas of thousands of teachers are being invalidated, their 15-year experience is being denied, and at the same time, their costs are increasing. Registration alone costs 100 old lek, while obtaining a license costs another 200 lek. Meanwhile, they are also required to have a master's degree, in order to fill the universities that are being emptied due to depopulation.

Then a very simple question arises: if today you are demanding these additional qualifications and testing, why have you kept these teachers in the system for so many years? If, in your opinion, they are not capable, then are you not in violation of the law by keeping them? These teachers have educated several generations of students and all of a sudden find themselves unlicensed.

The truth is that, instead of finding solutions and making life easier for teachers, you create artifice after artifice to make it harder for them. Instead of really increasing salaries – since Albanian teachers are among the lowest paid in the region, according to the OECD – you add other payments on top of them.

Because, if the goal wasn't to take money out of their pockets again, at least you would do this licensing at zero cost. But no, you choose to take money from underpaid teachers, who work in difficult conditions, in two shifts, who travel miles to teach and who face endless bureaucracy every day. And now you want to charge them for this pseudo-reform as well.

Madam Minister, the teaching branch today counts the number of students on the fingers of one hand. We are in a national crisis for teachers, because young people no longer see this profession as an opportunity. We risk being left without teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and other basic subjects.

And you, instead of taking measures to solve this crisis, are making the lives of the few teachers left in the system even worse. Because education has never been a priority for you.

Albania needs knowledgeable people, not functionally illiterate people with diplomas. This is the national emergency we have today.