Kosovo Institutions’ Neglect Leaves Minority Girl’s Schooling in Limbo

However, the Kosovo police report says the eighth-grade pupil's mother assaulted the teacher, not the pupil herself.

"The police … immediately went to the scene and arrested the suspected person, with initials B. P. (F/K), 35 years old, who had attacked the victim H. L. ( F/K), 58 years old, teacher in this school, causing bodily injury, and who received medical treatment at the Emergency Medical Center in Ferizaj," the police report read.

The girl's mother, B.P., told BIRN she had gone to the school to find out why the teacher had reprimanded her daughter the day earlier.

She was subsequently accused of assaulting the teacher. She was then sent to police custody while her daughter was left without schooling.

Under Kosovo's Law on Pre-University education "no person shall be denied the right to education".

Illustration. A primary school in Pristina, Kosovo August 24, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

However, the girl's mother told BIRN that no other school had been assigned for her daughter to attend instead.

The school's director, Bekim Nrecaj, told BIRN the plan was for the girl to be "transferred to another school due to the violence used against the teacher, together with her mother.

"The parent then gives their approval about which school they want to send the child … However, the parent has still not decided to send [the pupil] somewhere else."

The girl's mother, however, claims she is still waiting for the municipality to confirm which alternative school her daughter should be registered at.

"I was told at the municipality that they would call me, but they never did. They should not blame the parent [for not sending the girl to school] because they did not tell me where to send...