History

The period between 1980 and 1999 was one of interruption of education for Albanian students in Kosovo. In 1989, Kosovo lost all legislative and executive authority, as well as all local authority over issues like education. Now, curriculum and textbook decisions were made in Belgrade. References to Albanian culture were dropped in favor of Slavic or Serbian ones which intended to undermine Albanian pupils' sense of national identity. In several schools, particularly in the capital Prishtina, Albanian students continued to attend classes in buildings also used by Serbian students and other racial backgrounds. Despite the small number of Serbian students, they had access to every office, lab, and piece of equipment, as well as a larger classroom. Even though the majority of students were Albanian, they were only permitted to use one small classroom in the building. By 1991, the Serbian police in Kosovo encircled the educational facilities, preventing staff members and students from entering. They were not allowed to use public buildings to study anymore and they also lacked the necessary resources, materials, and textbooks they previously had. So, instead, people offered their homes to students so that they would be able to finish their education in their own language without excluding their history and culture. By the spring of 1992, Kosovo had established a whole parallel education system in which 3,200 private homes, basements, and garages were transformed into temporary schools for over 100,000 students.

Around the years 1990-1991, the Hertica family built a house for them to live in it. All the rooms were furnished and the family was ready to move there. However, due to the political situation in Kosovo, the owner, Mehmet Aliu Hertica, thought that turning their newly built house into a school would be very beneficial for the teachers and students. During this time two of his children, Azemine and Fadil, were high school students and they had informed their father that their teachers did not have a place to hold a meeting regarding the future of their education. Their father suggested they hold the meeting at their house since it had plenty of space for the teachers. They came over and held their meeting in the living room and afterward the owner gave them a house tour and told them that he was planning to turn the house into a school. Though the teachers felt a bit hesitant at first, they agreed that this was the best option for them and their students.

Azemine and Fadil felt very emotional about this decision because they did not know how the lessons would go and how secure everyone would feel to hold their classes at a house, but with their father’s determination and love for education, they became very helpful to make their house a functional school. Before the lessons started, the students sent their documents to the family and the registration process began. The list of the students' names came out and a week later, on the 27th of January 1992, the lessons started for the first time to be held regularly. The staff and the students were very excited to start this chapter of their life in a new environment, however, a lot of them were too scared to attend the school-house, so it took a while for the classes to be filled with a larger number of students. When the classes started being furnished with desks, chairs, and blackboards, the house finally started to look like a school, which filled the students with a lot of joy and gave them even more motivation to study hard. The teachers would also use the teacher’s room as a place to hold their meetings, and discuss the curriculum and the teaching techniques they would use, but, it was also a place of relaxation for them after holding their classes.

The Hertica family made sure that the classes were held regularly and that every need was met. The children and their mother would provide the staff with food, drinks, and new clothes when it was necessary. Even if a student was sick the owner would take them to the doctor or the family would try to help them in any way they could. For the first two years, the owner also paid the teachers because they were living in a very bad financial state. It is safe to say that the Hertica family got very close with everyone and they all considered each other as brothers and sisters.

Unfortunately, after some years, the situation in Kosovo got even worse. The owner gathered everyone and told them that it would be a better idea for everyone to leave the school-house because the Serbian police and military had started to become more violent and he was scared that something horrible would happen if they found the teachers and students in the school-house. Even the principal of the school agreed that the classes should be canceled due to the high amount of danger. Even though this was a hard decision to make, it was more than necessary. The school-house got burned down on the 9th of April 1999. The family was devastated that this monument of resistance was completely damaged, however, they also felt proud that out of this school-house a lot of generations finished their education and carried on their lives with the knowledge they had received from there.

References:

1. files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570511.pdf 

2. prishtinainsight.com/lessons-resistance-kosovos-parallel-education-system-1990s-mag/#: