Talented and skilled schoolchildren from all over Albania came together at the National School Art and Crafts Fair, showcasing best craft items and performances carried out during the school year together with their teachers under the National Art, Craft and Sports Programme, which was implemented in 200 schools of the pre-university education system across the country, involving over 600 education workers and more than 10,000 schoolchildren, with schools having been supplied with equipment, material base to assist creative activities.

The programme is designed to encourage training in arts and crafts through practical activities, refining motor skills and entrepreneurial initiative of kids in a bid to preserve and promote community values, as well as cultural heritage in painting, musical instruments, crafts, theater, sport, technology etc.

Since January this year when its implementation started, the programme has induced more dynamism, inclusiveness, and has identified young talents in various fields.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Education and Sports, Evis Kushi visited the School Art and Crafts Fair on Friday, watching some of the crafts and art items by the participating children and delivered a speech to the event:

* * *

First and foremost, I would like to express a special appreciation to all the programme supervisors and mentors, to all teachers and education workers – more than 600 of them, if I am not mistaken -for creating this new experience with involvement of around 10,000 schoolchildren.

Second, I would also like to extend special congratulations to all young boys and girls involved in this programme and praise them for everything they have created with their own hands during this experience, which, as you might have already noticed, it brings countless benefits and, most importantly, the programme offers you a window of opportunity to set smart phones and other electronic devices aside even for a few hours and care about your hands and senses instead, and pour out your inner self through your skills and talent to create such beautiful and interesting items, which really are not only beautiful to be seen, but most importantly are beautiful to be made. Therefore, I would like to specifically congratulate you all here and everyone else who has participated in this programme.

I would also like to wholeheartedly thank our UNICEF partners who joined us since the very onset and are working with us to deliver and make the best of it so that the programme includes as many schoolchildren as possible and becomes attractive to everyone.

It is our challenge now to further expand and extend the programme to more schools all over the country, enhance participation and expand the range of its disciplines, so that the programme becomes an established tradition and a space for each and every one of you and your peers and all of those who are part of this education process in our schools be provided adequate conditions and the trainers so that kids can hone their skills and talent, as well as learn new way of self-exploration, taste and our diverse traditions, and come across completely new experiences about art, crafts and the common European and world history, and the Albanian history in particular. This is an undertaking that would have turned out impossible, as the Minister of Education noted, if it was not for the support from the parents, grandparents and it is really amazing that this programme is engaging a growing number of parents and grandparents in such activities.

I won’t keep you any longer, but again I want to wholeheartedly congratulate each and every one of you for such a beautiful thing, for such a fresh thing, for such an attractive, as well as inspiring thing, and I am fully confident now that not only we wish, but we have also clearly demonstrated that this is not only possible, but it is fully possible as an indispensable process in tandem with the learning and teaching process in the classroom. So by setting this very initial example, let’s all join our ideas, join our forces, let’s join our energies and together move further, so that under this programme we host not only a fair like this one, but host festivals, exhibitions and special shows in the future, developing and consolidating a tremendous wealth of our education system, our schools by inventing and creating such items and products that belong not only to the present, but also to the future and history of each school.

Thank you very much everyone and a strong applause for each of you for being protagonists of this programme, namely all the teachers, parents, grandparents and everyone else.