By Dr. Hasan Bello
With the Declaration of Independence of Albania and the establishment of the independent Albanian state, the issue of the development of education was given primary importance. The newspaper of the Government of Vlora stated: “Only with a sound upbringing and a true education can our nation be revived and restored and can it gain the right to enter the ranks of civilized peoples”. According to the possibilities it had, the Ministry of Education, in the 1913-1914 school year, opened 46 primary schools and two preparatory 'normal' schools, for the areas that were free. In order to strengthen national unity, the Government of Vlora tried to follow a policy of balancing and rapprochement with all religious beliefs. This is also noticeable in the fact that some well-known clerics of that time, such as Haxhi Vehbi Dibra and Dom Nikoll Kaçorri, held important positions in the cabinet of Ismail Qemali.
In the few schools that were opened by the Vlora Government, in addition to scientific subjects, there was also a limited number of religious subjects. For the mentality of the time and for a state that had just emerged from a theocratic empire, the presence of the subject of religious education was something normal.
The years of World War I constitute one of the most complicated periods in the history of Albania. The territory of our country became a battlefield for both warring blocs and was divided into three occupation zones: Austro-Hungarian, Italian and French. In the context of strategic interests in strengthening the Albanian element, the Austro-Hungarian Military Command, which had occupied part of Central and Northern Albania, took measures to establish a local administration by creating three directorates: the General Directorate of Education with director Luigj Gurakuqi, the Directorate of Finance with director Fejzi Alizoti and the Directorate of Justice, with director Avni Dabulla.
What is worth noting is that during this period a large number of Albanian schools were opened and some of the most important programs for the history of the Albanian school and pedagogical thought were drafted, such as: Temporary Organization of Albanian Schools, September 20, 1916; Program of Lessons for the Five Grades of Albanian Primary Schools, October 18, 1916; Progress of Albanian Education, January 26, 1918, etc…! In all the curriculums of these schools, the subject of religious belief, to be developed and distributed according to classes, was left to the religious communities. According to the curriculum, this subject took up three hours per week for the first three years and two hours per week for the fourth and fifth years.
After the end of World War I, on January 21, 1920, the Lushnja National Congress was held, which made very important decisions for the salvation of Albania and for national unification. The government that emerged from this congress attached particular importance to the development of education. In this context, the Ministry of Education, on August 15, 1920, called the Lushnja Educational Congress, which was attended by some of the most renowned teachers of our country. Regarding the development of religious subjects in Albanian schools, the Lushnja Educational Congress decided that the programs and classes of religious education should be left to the authorities of each religion, while the Ministry of Education should have the right to control the implementation of these classes.
On November 4, 1920, the Ministry of Education notified the High Council of Sharia to convene a special commission, which would deal with the examination of questions arising regarding the definition of the subject of faith in public education. The main points to be discussed at this meeting were: the appointment of religious instruction hours in schools attended by Muslims, village schools, primary schools, urban and normal schools; analytical programs that would serve as a guide for authors who would compile books on the Muslim faith; and what rules public schools should follow during the month of Ramadan to continue teaching students. Despite these concessions, the new Albanian state did not adopt any official religion and declared that it followed a secular policy in relations with the religious communities and practices of the population.
This was done with the aim of strengthening the national bond between Albanians of the three religious faiths. Consequently, the secular state proclaimed itself as the acting agent of the nation and in the name of national unification, it exercised strict control over religious affairs and organizations. This was best seen in the orientation that was followed for the organization of the educational system, where France was mainly taken as an example, which was known for the consistency it followed for the secularism of public institutions. Thus, on January 7, 1921, the Minister of Education addressed a letter to the Prime Minister's Office expressing the need that this department had for the models of the different educational systems that were applied by civilized nations.
He also requested that the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nuri Vila, who was in Paris at the time, be ordered to send to this ministry the programs, regulations and laws of primary education and other school cycles, as well as three copies by different authors for each book used in primary schools in France. This ministry also suggested that such an order be given to the head of the Albanian delegation in Geneva, Fan Noli, so that he too would send the same programs, regulations and educational laws used in the cantons of Switzerland. This shows that the leaders of the Ministry of Education were inclined to take the most advanced countries as an example.
Based on the right previously recognized by the Albanian state itself, in the first months of 1921, the Supreme Court of Sharia requested the Ministry of Education to assume the right to inspect the subject of religion in schools. However, this ministry responded categorically to such a request, writing that since there was still no special law in this field, according to which this issue could be regulated, the inspection of religious education for the three faiths would be resolved after a special law was made. Therefore, such an inspection, together with the examination of the books that would be used for this subject, could not be allowed. According to the Minister of Education Rexhep Mitrovica, who was known for his extremely secular views, this was a legitimate right and the exclusivity of this ministry.
Meanwhile, a general dissatisfaction was emerging among the broad masses of the population every day. To the complaint of the High Court of Sharia regarding the problems encountered in the Prefectures of Korça and Gjirokastra, the Ministry of Education responded that according to the reports it had received from the educational directorates of these districts, religious education for both Muslims and Christians was regularly taught in the schools of these prefectures. This subject, by decision of the educational councils, had been assigned to language teachers, and the corresponding hours were also assigned. In those schools where there were mixed students, special teachers had been and were being appointed to teach religious education. Since this teaching was given according to the statute of those prefectures, the Minister of Education wrote that he could not object to it in any way.
He had the principle that religious education should be left free and taught in every prefecture and sub-prefecture according to the will and desire of the people. As a result of the pressure created and to establish internal balances, in a political situation still not stabilized for the new Albanian state, Prime Minister Iliaz Vrioni ordered the Ministry of Education to be more careful. The Minister of Education, outraged by these complaints, responded to the Prime Minister that, since the Educational Congress of Lushnja, the programs and classes of religious education had been left to the authorities of each religion, while this ministry had the right to control the implementation of these classes.
The Minister also complained about the interventions of the Ministry of the Interior, which, interested in maintaining public peace and avoiding the possibility of exploitation of these cases by any foreign state, had ordered the prefectures and sub-prefectures under its jurisdiction to immediately intervene in schools to implement the religious education program.
Found in such a situation, the Ministry of Education requested the formation of a commission, which would deal with the issue of drafting the curriculum for the subject of religious education. This commission, which met for the first time on September 16, 1921, included eminent figures of the clergy and well-known Muslim intellectuals, such as: Hafiz Ali Korça, Sali Vuçiterni, Hafiz Ibrahim Dalliu, Halit Rroji, Sali Çeka, Hysen Myshketa, S. Ndroqi, S. Kadiu, etc., with Hoxha Kadriu as chairman.
The Commission decided that the subject of the Muslim faith would be separately allocated to primary, urban and secondary schools, taking into account contemporary pedagogical methods. According to the proposal of the Commission and the consent of the Ministry of Education, it was decided to open a six-month course in the city of Shkodra, which would prepare teachers equipped with professional skills to teach the subject of religious education in state schools.
For primary schools covering the ages of 7-12, according to the above program, the student would learn to read the Quran and Ilmih, taking into account contemporary pedagogy norms.
For the first order, there would only be practical things orally, not in writing.
In the second order, the Albanian alphabet would be taught and the Arabic letters would begin according to the appropriate method, in the third order, the recitation of the Quran and the Ilmihal would begin.
In the fifth grade of primary school, Islamic history would be taught gradually and a small part of Tajweed, which included the rules for reading the Quran. At the meeting held on October 9, 1921, the Commission decided that religious education classes would be divided in the following way: in the second grade of primary school, religious education would be held for 3 hours a week, each hour would have two subjects of half an hour each.
In the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, 3 hours a week, this also ended the problem of religious education in elementary schools.
Table 1.
Religious education in primary schools (1921)
Table 1.
Religious education in primary schools (1921)
Class Hours per week
I –
II 3
III 3
IV 3
V 3
Table 2.
Faith-based education in urban schools
Class Hours per week
I 3
II 2
III 2
Table 3.
Faith-based teaching in normal schools
Class Hours per week
I 3
II 3
III 3
IV 3
V 3
Table .4.
Faith-based education in high schools
Faith-based teaching in normal schools
Class Hours per week
I 2
II 2
III 3
IV 2
V 2
For the drafting of religious textbooks, it was decided to create a special commission consisting of Hoxha Kadri Prishtina, Hafiz Ali Korça, Sali Vuçiterni, Sulejman Kadiu and the representative of the Ministry of Education Salih Çeka. Based on the decisions taken by the Pedagogical Congress of Lushnja on July 18, 1920 regarding holidays in state schools, in addition to holidays of a national character or other religious beliefs, the following holidays were considered as holidays for Muslim students: 2 days before Eid al-Fitr, 5 days on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, 3 days on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, 1 day on the occasion of Mevlud, and 1 day on the occasion of the good nights.
Table 5.
Holidays for Muslim students
Table 5.
Holidays for Muslim students
Holiday No. of days
Two days before Eid al-Fitr 2
Eid al-Fitr 3
Eid al-Adha 5
Mevlud 1
The Night of Regaibit 1
Night of Miraj 1
Night of Berait 1
Night of Power 1
Nowruz Night 1
Total 16
Despite all the efforts to find the necessary balance between the Ministry of Education on the one hand and the Muslim people and the High Court of Sharia on the other, there were also misunderstandings between both parties, which came mainly from the reckless and hasty measures for the time of the Minister of Education Rexhep Mitrovica. These misunderstandings reached their peak in 1922, when, after complaints from the population of Shkodra, he addressed the Prime Minister's Office in a letter with the words: "We are seeing a great anomaly in our Minister, although our government is called and called a religious one, we are maintaining, especially in the schools of the northern part, the teaching of religion and, destroying quite large amounts of it, so that our Ministry can be said to be religious, a work that contradicts the principle that the Government has taken as its foundation."
A similar confrontation, this time not over the issue of the subject of religious education, which, according to the claims of the clergy and the Muslim population, was not strictly implemented in Albanian schools, but over the opening of the gymnasium in Shkodër, Rexhep Mitrovica also had with the Catholic clergy. This was because the latter saw this as a risk of the state monopolizing education. The cleric P. Ambroz Marlaskaj tried to show in the brochure Nji monument pazotsije në lamë te aristotim në Shqipni, Shkodër, 1922 that the gymnasium would be attended only by Muslim students.
Over time, religious education classes in state schools were reduced. This caused dissatisfaction among the Muslim clergy. On November 16, 1924, with a special decision, the High Council of Sharia contested the circular of the Ministry of Education dated September 24, 1924, which ordered the educational directorates in each prefecture to:
1) Faith teaching should be done two hours a week, in the last classes, in the last hours, morning or afternoon.
2) Religious education would be provided by the teaching staff according to religion, and in the event of a shortage of personnel, the teaching of the relevant religion would be recommended by the relevant religious authority, which would also assume responsibility for paying their salaries.
3) The Ministry of Education saw it as necessary that teachers of each religious faith be in accordance with state and human requirements, so that the school could raise and educate children, brothers, etc. Difference in religion did not prevent Albanians from being good citizens and honest patriots.
Of all these points, the Supreme Council of Sharia considered point three to be the most reasonable, since the teachings of the Islamic religion did not contradict this point. However, this Council requested the Ministry of Education to ensure that religious education was developed by qualified teachers; that the competence to teach religious education be assigned by religious authorities; that religious authorities be charged with supervising the teaching of religious education; that religious education be a compulsory subject like other subjects; that this subject be an obstacle to passing the grade if students did not demonstrate the appropriate proficiency in religious education at the time of the exam; that the salaries of religious education teachers be paid from the state treasury, like other teachers; The religious education of Muslim students was to be developed according to the analytical program, prepared by a special commission that was presented to the Ministry of Education through letters 640/II, 640/III dated 19.11.1924 and 11.10.1921 and 11.9.1921 by the Chief Mufti of Albania.
The views on the secularization and nationalization of the Albanian school, the Minister of Education Rexhep Mitrovica, explained in a more synthetic way in a special issue of the “Pedagogical Journal” entitled “Second Letter to Albanian Teachers”. Among other things, he justified himself by saying that he was personally not against religious beliefs; that it was completely true that one of the means to form honest people was the teaching of faith and morality.
But, in any case, he adhered to the principle that: "The public school should be a neutral school, but not with its indifference to religious feelings, since it is a national school, a school of a nation where citizens are supported by different religious feelings. The school will respect this religious feeling, will take great care and be careful not to prematurely introduce young primary school students into passions that are not appropriate for their age."
Despite these thoughts, which as we have emphasized above were somewhat hasty for the time, in relation to the mentality but also to the educational reforms followed by the most civilized countries of Europe, Rexhep Mitrovica remains a figure with an important contribution to the field of national education. In Albanian schools, the subject of religious education continued to be taught even later. But now only in primary schools and in a more reduced way than in the period under consideration by us./ Memorie.al
