Prishtina, 7 March, 2024
In the ceremony of awarding the traditional “Shaban Jashari” award for the teacher of the year, in celebration of 7 March, Teacher’s Day, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that there is no fair award or evaluation for the good teacher if the price does not carry a name that perfectly fulfills this function.
Therefore, as he said, for the teacher we don’t say that he performs a function, but we say that the teacher performs a mission, because the mission expresses the aimless freedom of piety within a profession.
“I myself have been guided so often by the figure of the teacher”, said the Prime Minister, then reflecting on the mission of teaching in society.
First, he said that teaching and learning bridge the ages. Then, that the school connects the past and the future.
“It classifies, gives education on the unthinkable amount of knowledge and forms that have been recorded in the millennium, connects these knowledge and makes them accessible to a generation that enters as a novice in the universal and immeasurable community of knowledge. Pedagogy is both art and knowledge. It takes a lot of art to convincingly convey this amount of knowledge”, said the Prime Minister.
At the end of the speech, wishing him good work, a healthy life and new successes, Prime Minister Kurti said that everyone who believes in the mission of the teacher, including the teachers themselves, loves their homeland.
“The name chosen in the award you will receive is a high name. That of Shaban Jashari. Shaban Jashari is the teacher who best unfolded the dialectic between knowledge and autochthony. There is no excessive knowledge for human habitation, and there is no insufficient autochthony for the scholar”, concluded the prime minister.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Arbërie Nagavci, said that today is a day when the whole country publicly bows to the contribution of teachers. It is the day when each and every one of us, big and small, stands up to publicly say thank you, dear teachers, for the work you do.
This year the “Shaban Jashari” award was given to four teachers from the Municipality of Istog, the Municipality of Obiliq, that of Prishtina and Rahovec, and a total of 28 teachers received recognition.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Dear Ms. Arbërie Nagavci, Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation,
The honorable Mr. Taulant Kelmendi, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation,
Dear representatives of the Municipal Directorates of Education,
Dear teachers, students and parents,
Ladies and gentleman,
Dear attendees,
There is no price and fair appreciation for the good teacher if the price does not carry a name that perfectly fulfills this function. Love of knowledge and love of freedom are only one of the pillars of this function. Therefore, for the teacher we do not say that he performs a function, but we say that the teacher performs a mission. Because mission expresses the aimless freedom of piety within a profession.
I myself have been so often guided by the figure of the teacher. So allow me a simple reflection on the key mission of teaching in society. Meanwhile, Minister Nagavci will tell you more about what our Government has done specifically.
Teaching and learning bridge the ages. School is the place. A new generation comes into society and needs language and sciences, culture and arts, nature and body education. School is this magical place where integration is accelerated. The school is one of the most ancient institutions of humanity, because humanity of every culture has felt the need to integrate the coming generation.
Second, the school connects the past and the future. How can a future be signed over the past without teaching, without the school, without the teacher? Here, too, school is acceleration. It classifies, gives education on the unimaginable amount of knowledge and forms that have been recorded in the millennium, connects these knowledge and makes them accessible to a generation that enters as a novice in the universal and immeasurable community of knowledge. Pedagogy is both art and knowledge. It takes a lot of art to convincingly convey this amount of knowledge.
The third pillar that stands out is the one between everything that is explained and the rest that is not possible to say. God knows what remains unsaid and unexplained. So, again, it is the teacher who, in addition to logical training, also awakens the imagination, stimulates the fantasy, the ability to acquire any new and difficult information that we will encounter in the adult life in a natural way. The teacher, therefore, not only teaches, but awakens the mind to what is unthinkable before. As the teacher learns, he discovers new talents and nurtures them further.
Dear attendees,
How beautiful we have two such close verbs in Albanian: acquire and learn. The teacher wakes up, makes his student smart. He awakens in his entirety this child who comes to learn and to fantasize, to know and to create.
Here I would say that a fourth pillar is outlined, the one between knowledge and creativity. When we think about this, we are reminded of the figure of the teacher in Menon of Platon. A good teacher is the one who knows how to highlight to his students that he already knows what he will learn, precisely because what he teaches is human knowledge.
The teacher therefore becomes a fifth pillar among the students of society, because he is the pillar between faith and talent. The teacher teaches his students to believe in their strengths and talents. The teacher is the one who opens the source of proud and wise knowledge.
We are also calling it a pole six. Important for a nation and a state. The teacher is the pillar between local autochthony and world knowledge. If we have respect for teachers, we find it difficult to neglect the project of state building and republican virtue. That society that has good teachers is a guaranteed society. A country where good teachers live is a good country for people with faith in the earth, the world and the future.
Dear and respected teachers, dear and respected teachers,
You are the most complete figure of man. Your mission is the noblest. Everyone who believes in the mission of the teacher, including the teachers themselves, loves their country. This is how Migjeni and Petro Nini Luarasi have seen their homeland, in knowledge and in poetry. If we had the opportunity and the time to talk longer between us, we would certainly find other dialectical pillars besides these six that I mentioned, which turn into bridges that connect as well as support the teacher’s mission.
But here we are gathered to give appreciation and exaltation of your figure. And the name chosen in the prize you will receive is a high name. That of Shaban Jashari. Shaban Jashari is the teacher who has best revealed the dialectical pillar transformed into a bridge that connects and holds between knowledge and autochthony. There is no excess of knowledge to the habitation of man, and no deficient autochthony for the scholar.
So, and I wish you for every day:
Have a good work!
Healthy life and new successes and thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Last modified: March 8, 2024