The 9-year-old "Edith Durham" school will be rebuilt with better standards for its students. The works have started this month and it is expected that the building will be ready for the new school season next year. The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj said that it is the 47th school that is being rebuilt in the capital, he assured the parents that the new building will be several times stronger and bigger than the old building.
"In Tirana we have built over 45 schools. "Peter Budi" is the 46th, while the "Edith Durham" school is the 47th. In these 10 years, the schools of the suburbs have all been built new, and all of a sudden, the schools of the center are in tune with them. If the whole of Tirana is being modernized, the time had come to modernize the 9-year schools and the gymnasiums of Unit 5. Now we only have "Petro Nini Luarasi" left, the work on which starts next year, after a discussion that we will have with the community. But, first, I want the understanding of the parents. Someone asked me: "Why don't you build the schools in the summer"? First, the school will take at least 9 months to build. So, we will try to finish it in 9 months and be ready next September. However, a construction site cannot be opened adjacent to another construction site. The "Emin Duraku" school had to be finished, so that we could use it as a support school while we finish "Edith Durham". We cannot open both construction sites at the same time, because it falls to us to send the children to Kinostudio with school", explained Veliaj.
Focusing on the school project, Veliaj added that from a two-story building, the new school will be built with four floors, one of which is underground and will serve to maintain the material base, without narrowing the spaces for the children. The other three floors of the building will be accessible through the elevator, facilitating movement for children with special abilities.
"In 9-10 months we will have a new school, which, as you can see from the renderings, will resemble the "Sami Frashëri" gymnasium in structure, maximizing the space. So, from a two-story school we will have a four-story school, with an elevator. If access for children with special abilities has been difficult before, we will create all the possibilities so that, from the youngest child in preschool to the one who completes the age of 9, nothing is missing, as well as have a safe environment at school. We want to use the sunny days, hoping that we will not have a strong winter, to move quickly with the works. If you look at it, the old school had no columns, it was all just retaining walls. I understand that there is a lot of nostalgia, just as there was a lot of nostalgia for the Theater. But, we will keep the nostalgia at the school museum, meanwhile, we will give the children of Tirana, in the heart of Tirana, a new super school. The fact that we go to more than 30 classes, all first shift, makes it easy for children to follow the courses after school", said the mayor.
Another important space of the new school will be the gym, which can also be used by the residents of Unit 5.
