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Dalina Buzi recently published a video on Instagram, where she shared her concern about a piece of data that, although it seems like all the usual statistics , actually speaks of a deep social wound: more than half of women in Albania over the age of 25 have only primary or 9-year education.

According to published data, 52.2% of women and 43.6% of men over 25 have only basic education. The figure has decreased slightly compared to 2018, especially among women, but still remains very high, especially when compared to countries in the region and the European Union.

Photo: INSTAT / via Monitor.al

Although it initially seems like an educational issue, in reality, it is much more than that, because it is about the economy, independence, opportunity, the job market, emancipation, and, in many cases, destinies cut short too early.

When a woman fails to complete secondary or higher education, it is almost never due to a lack of desire to learn. It is often due to a family that has not seen their daughter's education as a priority. There is the mentality that "a girl has enough to go to 8 grades of school", there is poverty, distance from school, child labor, early marriage or the mentality that investing in a girl does not "return" the same as investing in a boy.

This was also evident in the discussion that Dalina opened on Instagram, where many girls and women shared their stories, or those of their mothers or sisters ( you can read the stories at the end of the article ). In many of them, education was not abandoned because they did not want to continue, but because someone else (mainly the father) had decided that it was not necessary. The main reason, according to the accounts, was a mixture of backward mentality and economic conditions.

How do we read 52.2%? There are 1 in 2 women who could have been teachers, economists, doctors, nurses, entrepreneurs, lawyers, managers, etc. They are women who would probably have a better salary today, more freedom to make decisions, more financial security, and less dependence on someone else.

In practice, such a low level of education also directly affects the economy. A large part of the population finds it more difficult to integrate into jobs that require higher qualifications, professional skills or adaptation to technology and the modern market. This leads to lower wages, a shortage of qualified staff and a labor market that remains mainly concentrated in sectors with low added value.

A short while ago, a World Bank survey also showed that one of the main concerns of businesses in Albania is the lack of skills among employees. So, the problem is not just individual. 

A comparison with the region makes the situation even clearer. In Serbia and North Macedonia, the percentage of the population over 25 with only primary education is below 25%, significantly lower than in Albania. Kosovo has had figures closer to Albania, but in recent years has invested more in vocational education, seeing it as a way to better connect young people and adults to the labor market.

Such discussions should not remain sporadic, dependent on an Instagram video or the sensibilities of a certain person. They should become part of the campaigns of people who have public influence, part of conversations on television shows, part of tables where the country's development is discussed, and, above all, a real part of reforms and political programs, those programs that promise the future of this country, but that are voted for by people who never read them.

The concern today is not only why so many women and men in Albania have been left with basic education, but how many of them would have had a different life if someone had told them in time that school was not a luxury, but a right.

Some of the stories posted on Dalina's Instagram, shared by girls and women who have experienced this reality themselves, can be found below.