ALBANIAN EDUCATION TRADE-UNIONS

The Conference “Trade-unions and Child Labour,” which starts today, crowns the work that the Trade Union Federation of Education and Science of Albania, FSASH, and the Independent Trade Union of Albanian Education, SPASH, two Albanian education trade-unions, have carried out over the span of several years. The Conference aims at drawing a balance-sheet of this activity for the implementation of the goals contained in the Project “Empowering Education Trade-Unions in Albania” for the period January 2005-December 2006. This Project is the product of a close and qualitative cooperation between the two education trade-unions in Albania and the Dutch Confederation of Trade-unions, FNV, and the The General Trade Union of Education Personnel in Netherlands, AOb, which have provided financial and technical support for capacity building, working groups functioning, communication with members and so on, in the framework of the whole Project.

Nowadays, around the world, the fight against child labour, violation or denial of their rights, deceit of and violence against them, forcing them to end up among the illiterates and victims of trafficking or prostitution, and condemning them to lead a life on the street only, poses a major social problem, a cruel aspect of social injustice and human inequality. Therefore, this is a battle for everybody to do. The Government, employers, civil society, parents, children, and of course, trade-unions, are engaged in the fight against this phenomenon that not only is present, but also threatening in the Albanian society, and they have to step up efforts in the future, too.

The involvement of the education trade-unions in activities designed to prevent the worse and illegal forms of child labour, the consequences of this phenomenon, including drop-out or irregular attendance of school that anticipates drop-out, work in the street, informal employment in difficult sectors, such as, building, construction, agriculture, or services, forcing children to go begging, as well as the worst criminal forms, including selling of narcotic substances, trafficking in human organs and indeed of the children themselves, is a mission deriving from their being social partners.

This means that both the education trade-unions are not involved in this activity by coincidence. The timing have chosen to be involved in activities for the protection of children, and prevention of those types of labour that are prohibited for this age, as they damage their health and personality, is no coincidence, either.

For over a decade since early 1990s, when our trade-unions were established, it has been impossible for the education trade-unions cope simultaneously with both the social and economic protection of the teachers and workers of the sectors of education and science, and with the social, scientific and teaching issues of our school, and the process of its reform and modernisation. Why? Because, first, under the very difficult conditions of the transition period, the requests of teachers and workers of the education sector concerning pay rises, improvement in the remuneration system, the working hours and conditions, the breaks, employment, and trade-unionist freedoms, were coming in large numbers. Trade-unions were lacking in the experience and force to negotiate for, to provide arguments in favour of, and resolve these requests, as well as to draft and enforce effective collective contracts built on a sound legal basis. Therefore, they focused their efforts, their energies and their movements almost entirely on the presentation and protection of the social and economic requests and interests of the members they represented, and of the workers in the education sector, overall. Nowadays, this may be perceived as a narrow meaning of and one-sided trade-union work. However, at that time, we could not act differently, because, second, the newly established trade-unions, which had no adequate trade-union experience and training, did not have the necessary capacities to cope with the process of the reform and modernisation of education, and all the problems associated with the said reform, including also the efforts for the protection of children and the effective combat against evil and criminal forms of child labour.

Hence, the trade-unions had to go through a process of consolidation and maturation. They had to overcome the stage of their infancy, so that they could broaden their vision concerning their goals, responsibilities and activity as social partners in the sector of education and the education of the new generation.

Precisely during this stage, between 1998 and 2000, as both the education trade-unions engage themselves in the process of the reform and modernisation of education, the first trade-union activities in protection of children are also recorded. The programme addressing the harmful and illegal forms of child labour is planned in a better way.

In the framework of the programmes undertaken by the International Confederation of the Free Trade-Unions, ICFTU, and the Education International, EI, too, efforts were initially focussed on a programme designed to raise awareness among the trade-union leaders, teachers and trade-unionists. Several surveys have found that, even though the phenomenon surrounding drop-out and child labour was widespread and of concern nationwide, the teachers and trade-unionists had minimal knowledge of the contemporary standards of how to tackle this phenomenon, with their interest to prevent this phenomenon being low.

Our efforts to cope with this situation also mark the beginning of cooperation with ILO-IPEC in Tirana. This has been a non-stop cooperation, which continues to this very day.

A first step taken in the framework of this cooperation was the training of a group of about twenty trade-union leaders in 2002. They were introduced to the International Labour Conventions addressing this issue, the Labour Code, and the by-laws issued by the Albanian Government. This training was offered through a joint workshop of our education trade-unions, which was also attended by a number of trade-unions leaders of the other branches that are members of the Confederation of the trade Unions of Albania, KSSH and the union of Independent Trade Unions of Albania, BSPSH. The workshop was funded by ILO-IPEC in Tirana, which provided qualified training assistance.

Later on, during 2003, a region-based programme was carried out, through ILO-IPEC support, in Districts of Tirana, Vlora and Pogradec. In the framework of this programme, about seventy teachers and trade-union leaders from these areas were trained, and concrete activities designed to improve the situation, especially in the schools in which the participants in these training courses taught, were undertaken.

Drawing on the experience and achievements gained, during 2005, along with the training that took place in the Districts of Elbasan, Korça and Berat, the book “Trade-unions and Child Labour” was published and promoted. There was also a follow-up of the implementation of the action plans elaborated in the course of the regional workshops held in these districts.

ILO-IPEC in Tirana has always had a direct impact also on the involvement of our trade-unions in joint activities of the organisations and associations operating in this area, on the promotion and delivery of the Package SCREAM, as well as on the engagement of the representatives from the trade-unions in the system of monitoring of the child labour.

Parallel with these activities and building on the achievements attained in process,
in 2002, through mediation of the Education International, EI, we started to cooperate with the Dutch Education Trade-union, AOb, with the Foundation NOVIB, and later on, with the Confederation of Dutch Trade-unions, FNV. During the first stage of this cooperation covering the period between 2002 and 2003, trade-union leaders and activists, especially at the first and second level, were trained in the framework of the programme “For enhancing the effectiveness of the education trade-unions in Albania, reinforcing democracy and modernising the school.” This helped improve the quality of negotiations, and the selection of the numerous trade-union requests. This also helped us condition meeting of their requests on a more active approach by the education trade-unions at all levels, and their members to problems the school is faced with at this stage.

One of the problems of greatest concern education in Albania is faced with nowadays, and for some time in the future, too, is the relatively large number of children who are out of school, who drop out of it for many reasons, mainly to pick up a job, thus creating a considerable pool of illiterates who, on the one hand, find it impossible to integrate themselves into the present-day and future Albanian society aspiring to join the European society, and on the other hand, turn into a resource of and group liable to be involved in criminal acts.

According to the data available to the Ministry of Education and Science during the academic year 2002-2003, when we developed the Project, the number of pupils who had left compulsory education amounted to about 7,700, or about 1.5 per cent, of the total count of pupils at a national level.

What was of concern was the fact that this was not a stable datum. Even though, overall, there is a tendency for this number of drop, the potential risk is a major one, because the number of pupils attending school on an irregular basis, who have a poor performance at school, who work out in the street, or in other forms of work, and who are plausible candidates to drop out of school at any time, is very high. On the basis of rough calculations and a few surveys carried out, this number varies between 40,000 and 50,000 children across the country.

Under the said conditions, in consultation and cooperation with our counterparts of the education trade-unions in The Netherlands, AOb, and with support from the Confederation of Dutch Trade-unions, FNV, the programme “Empowering Education Trade-unions in Albania,” with one of the main highlights being the role in and commitment of the education trade-unions to the gradual reduction in and elimination of child labour, started to be carried out in the early 2005.

Proceeding from the proportions this phenomenon had taken on at the time when the programme started, we focused on the four most problematical regions: the Regions of Tirana, Shkodra, Fier and Elbasan, in which the number of pupils who had dropped out of school amounted to about 40 per cent of the total number of pupils who had dropped out at a national level.

In the Region of Tirana this number was estimated at about 4 per cent, in the Region of Shkodra at about 3 per cent, in the Region of Fier at about 2 per cent, and in the Region of Elbasan at over 2 per cent.

Drawing on the achievements of the programme 2002-2003 and on the activity undertaken jointly by the Albanian trade-unions and ILO-IPEC in given cases, and ensuring harmonisation of all the activity with the conclusions, tasks and goals of the National Committee for the Protection of Children, which has been joined by the principal representatives from the education trade-unions, the project 2005-2006, of which balance-sheet we are drawing today, identified several more advanced and more concrete targets.

First, we went from an overall consideration of the issue at a region or district level on to the identification of the phenomenon in specific schools, in which drop-out was higher. This enabled the working groups, which were set up and function at the Trade-union Sections of both trade-unions and also accommodate representatives from the Regional Education Directorates, the local government, the public order bodies, the parents’ and pupils’ community, as well as the different non-profit organisations, to better specify their specific duties. It also allowed each and every stakeholder to take concrete and effective measures, with all of us contributing to reducing the phenomenon and taking more secure steps towards its elimination.

Working groups in every district have worked in concrete terms to highlight the situation, to get the teachers to be engaged in individual work with the pupils who had dropped out of school, or liable to drop out of school, to ensure coordination of actions with those of the school administrations and other actors down at the community, and to set up workshops that FSASH and SPASH have organised with their lecturers, and in particular, with the qualified and unsparing assistance and rich experience of the Dutch lecturers, of which several are present here today. Trade-unions have taken care that the participants in the workshops were active leaders of the trade-union councils at schools and male and female teachers dealing with children who have dropped out of school, or are liable to do so. The aim was to ensure that all these trade-union leaders and teachers participating in these workshops both offer assistance to the pupils they work directly with, i.e. who are in the classes they are in charge of or in which they teach, and get qualified and prepared as lecturers, trainers, and propagators with reference to tens and hundreds of other teachers in their schools, or in other schools in the area, where the phenomena of child labour and drop-out are present.

We have always been aware that trainings and serious preparation of trade-union leaders and teachers in workshops and other forms of work, and that creation of a sound opinion and raising the awareness of the large mass of trade-union member teachers so as to join the other actors engaged in the fight for the prevention and elimination of child labour, their protection from risks exposure to which makes of them illiterates and pools of crime, cannot take place without being based on documents, written material and a contemporary legal framework, which, overall, constitute the current European and international standards for the protection of children.

In an effort to enable the trade-unionists have access to these documents, thus providing a strong basis to their training, the education trade-unions have come up with a number of publications. It is worthwhile mentioning here the initiative of FSASH for the translation and publication in Albanian of a special edition of the 52 Conventions and 10 Recommendations of the International Labour Organisation, including Convention 138 “For the minimum age for employment,” and Recommendation 146, supplementary to the said Convention. Copies of this book have also been distributed to the education trade-unions in Kosova and the Albanian-speaking trade-unionists in Macedonia, and at large.

Translation and publication of “Trade-unions and Child Labour”, a collection of the seven brochures published by the Office for the Workers’ Activity at ILO, ACTRAV, and its enrichment with the Albanian practice and experience, has been an important step. This collection, published with support from ILO-IPEC in Tirana, also contains Convention 138 “For the minimum age,” Convention 182 “For the worst forms of child labour,” the relevant Recommendations and Protocols, as well as the Albanian legislation sanctioning the minimum age for employment in Albania (see Article 98 of the Labour Code), as well as Decision by the Council of Ministers no. 205, dated 20 May 2002, “On the list of difficult or dangerous jobs entailing harmful exposure of children below the age 16 years to physical, biological and chemical agents.”

Alongside special publications in the form of articles in the daily press and coverage by visual medial or posters, the Magazine “Tribuna Sindikale”, a joint publication organ of both the education trade-unions, which comes out eight times a year, has had an irreplaceable role to play. Two years ago, the magazine, at that time a bi-monthly, was funded by the Project NOVIB. Over the past two years, which make up the topical subject of this analysis, the magazine came out in eight issues a year, six of which sponsored by FNV, with the expenditure for the other two issues being covered with financial resources of our education trade-unions. The documents, contributions and conclusions of each workshop on child labour have been published in this magazine, with a circulation of 5,000 copies, in an integral form. It has promoted the experience of outstanding teachers in their concrete and differentiated work with the pupils who have dropped out of school, or are liable to do so, which has resulted in an increased number of teachers being engaged in preventing and eliminating child labour, and reducing the number of child workers.

Second, at the end of each three-day seminar, with the all-sided debate on the issue leading up to conclusions about the need to develop a working programme for the future, a map of schools across the district has been produced. On this map, schools facing problems of attendance or drop-out, or schools in which working children learn, are painted in a specific colour so as to call the attention of all the stakeholders in the district, and the education trade-unions, and the trade-unions of other professions to these schools and to particular pupils, so as to bring their number down gradually.

Working on concrete terrain and examination of the phenomenon in the more problematic schools has also allowed a more accurate identification of the reasons behind drop-out or irregular attendance of school by pupils.

Concentration on concrete schools and classes has enabled reaching out to almost every specific child, thus allowing the trade-unions and their partners, as well as all the stakeholders involved in this battle to better identify the reasons behind child labour and drop-out, and indeed, their involvement in criminal acts, thus making their efforts and intervention to change the situation more effective.

It is easy to say to blame poverty, the informal economy, the low cost of child labour, and the social problems children of divorced parents, with a single parent or parentless children face. These reasons are brought up time an again in many meetings or conferences. There is no need for one to go to the school and talk to teachers, pupils and parents in order to find out about them.

We have gone about it in a different way. The trade-unionists, who have attended training seminars, have referred to concrete cases in a school or a class. They have examined the pupils who have dropped out of school on a one-by-one basis, and have identified the specific causes why they have taken up that course. The examples, which have been brought to our attention and we have discussed in the “Dino Ismaili” School in Levan of Fier, in the “Pashko Vasa” School in Shkodra, in the “De Rada” School in Elbasan, or in two 9-year schools in Bathore, where concrete results have been attained in ensuring return to school of many pupils who had dropped out, are indications that the trade-union member teachers, characterised by a high sense of civic responsibility, have understood their role as educators and a second parent to the student correctly, have sacrificed their free time, have looked from close into these children’s problems and concerns, and have identified effective ways and means to sort them out.

Let us focus on an area like Kamza, and within Kamza, on the community in Bathore. In the two schools located in this community, with about 2,000 pupils, the number of children dropping out of school at an annual basis varies is in the range of 60 to 70. When asked about this problem, those teachers, schoolmasters or trade-unions, who are not familiar with the phenomenon and not very much worried about it, immediately blame poverty and high unemployment rate. However, the teachers, trade-unionists and schoolmasters, to whom this is a daily concern, add other reasons to the above, especially with reference to girls from the 6th to the 9th grade, who make up a large number of the pupils who drop out of school. In this case, the reasons include both poverty and the conservatory mentality of their parents and of the heterogeneous community living in the area.

It is true that a few problems concerning safety and order at school have not been resolved yet. However, from contacts and talks we have had with representatives from the public order bodies it became clear that this risk, to which girls are allegedly exposed on their way to or within the school, is rather a work of imagination than the reality. Drawing on support from the community of parents and pupils, the trade-union member teachers have taken up stand precisely against these mentalities and false psychoses, with the result being that many of these girls have gone back to school.

In Shkodra, blood feuds, a cruel canon-based custom forcing children to lead a secluded life indoors, is one of the main reasons behind drop-out. Of course, many stakeholders, including the local government and public order bodies, and different associations have lined up against this phenomenon. Trade-union sections in this district are coordinating efforts with these subjects, and in cooperation with the Regional Directorate, are looking for appropriate ways to ensure that these pupils have access to education.

In the Districts of Fier and Elbasan, the pupils who have dropped out of school come basically from the Roma community. Teachers handle them on an individual basis.

However, in our debates in the course of seminars and in building the programmes instrumental in moving ahead and improve the situation, FSASH and SPASH we have also addressed other reasons, which, at a first glance, do not attract people’s attention, as is the case with the economic causes, poverty, informal labour, and blood feuds.

First, the quality of classes the school offers, and the level of teaching. It is common knowledge that pupils who attend school on an irregular basis, or who drop out of it, belong with that category of children who have a poor academic performance, who do not take much interest in the class, who on the account of the gaps they have find it difficult to follow the logical line in a class at school. It is the teacher the one who, knowing the pupils in front of him, should prepare seriously, should make use of active and interesting approaches to enliven the lesson in the class, should know how to awaken among this group of children the interest in knowledge, culture and behaviour.

However, this can be done by a teacher who, before teaching his pupils, continues to study and improve himself; who, owing to his knowledge, succeeds in winning even the indifferent pupils over; who knows very well the class in which he is teaching, and builds a special plan to make a differentiated work with the pupils with greater needs, and to be closer to their family and economic concerns.

In the activities we have carried out in the four districts mentioned above, tens and tens of such teachers have stood out. However, there are other teachers who hardly manage to the end of a class, who provoke no interest among the pupils, who are monotonous, and who keep repeating what they have said ten years ago. It is this level of poor quality that in many cases adds to the decision of hesitating children to turn their back on to school, because, in these cases, they do not find in school the warmth and support they do not have in their life and family.

Therefore, the involvement of trade-unions in and their support to the reform and modernisation of education has also a direct impact on the protection of children, and on the reduction in the number of pupils dropping out of school. Trade-unions can do this, because they accommodate thousands of devoted teachers and educators who are exigent persons, and critical of their colleagues’ weaknesses, shortcomings and backwardness.

Second, nearly in all the schools across the country, a few subjects that are commonly labelled as “secondary”, including, music, physical culture, and civic education, but that actually have a fundamental role to play in the civic and cultural background and the character of children, who are the future of the society, are currently being taught just for form’s sake. This is done by teachers who are teaching subjects that do not comply with their background, thus giving rise to serious gaps in the pupils’ formation.

Let us dwell on the subject of music. Even in the districts with outstanding culture- and art-loving tradition, such as, Shkodra, Korça or Elbasan, the absolute majority of schools in town, let alone those in the rural areas, have neither musical instruments nor a central audio office. Even when the subject of music is taught by teachers who have the appropriate background and education, the latter may but hold the chalk in their hand and hit it against the blackboard in order to create a rhythm.

We will refrain ourselves from teaching morals here, and recalling that music is one of the subjects that have a direct impact on the creation of cultured nation. However, we may say that, with reference to the topical theme under discussion, teaching music in the appropriate way may also enliven even pupils who are most uninterested in other subjects.

It is not that these schools are short of the financial resources to buy simple musical instruments. It rather concerns neglect and lack of attention to do so.

The same applies to physical culture. This class awakens a lot more interest, and makes the pupils who find it difficult to follow the other subjects, feel comfortable. However, for this to happen a minimal material stock should exist, and sports grounds should be looked after.

Both these findings have been produced by the pupils who, after having dropped out, have come back to school thanks to the work done with them, have adapted themselves to school, and have attended it regularly.

Third, schools carry out few cultural and sports activities and competitions, which attract the overwhelming number of pupils, and make up for what they cannot have outside of school.

The experience we gained over the past two years in the working groups, and especially, in the active debates held in the trade-union seminars in the Districts of Fier, Shkodra, Elbasan and Tirana, from addressing of this problem with trade-unionists and trade-union activists at the grassroots in the Districts of Vlora, Korça, Durrës and Berat, and from the publication of these activities in Magazine “Tribuna Sindikale”, enabled us to take the debate on and the awareness-raising efforts about child labour out of the above-mentioned districts and expand them to all the trade-union sections and councils at a national level. Even though a systematic activity has not carried out in them, efforts have been put in to raise the awareness of the teachers and trade-unionists about this issue, with the outcomes being concrete.

Under the said situation, our education trade-unions reached the conclusion that it is high time for them to assume greater contractual responsibilities for the protection of children, and prevention of child labour, and at the same time, to ask their employer, the Ministry of Education and Science, more effective and contractual cooperation and partnership to meet a number of requests that help reduce drop-out and eliminate child labour.

This made it possible that, as part of the reform and modernisation of education, a special focus was given to the protection of children and elimination of child labour in the new Collective Contract.

Article 10 of Collective Contract stresses, among others, that the education unions are committed to making special efforts for the reduction of the number of pupils abandoning schools and those working in the streets. The unions' Collective Contract includes the unions' obligation to work on increasing the number of teachers, who will carry out special work with the pupils, who have abandoned school or might abandon it, by creating a warmer, more attractive, and more family-like environment. The important, permanent objective is the elimination of the child labor. Through this Collective Contract provision the Education and Science Ministry undertakes to engage school administrations in joint actions, promote the participation of the pupils and parents in the child protection process, and ensure that the school administrations take part in joint representation with the unions in the relations with the local government authorities and the other institutions, which are interested in or are charged by law for the protection of the children and the elimination of their labor.

In this conference we are analyzing the work done so far and the results in the prevention and elimination of the child labor. This is one of the pillars we are implementing together with the Dutch colleagues. However, such an issue cannot be tackled unilaterally, without strengthening our unions in all aspects. Therefore, the other elements of this project, such as the enhancement of the capacities of our local leaders, special work with the women and the new teachers in the union, and increased communication with our members are all integral components of the fruitful work we are carrying out all over the country

Following this summary presentation and analysis of the work done during the past two years, in cooperation with our colleagues of the Dutch unions AOb/FNV and ILO-IPEC in Tirana, it is natural to make the following question: What are some of the main conclusions we have drawn and what are the main concrete results we have achieved?

The process undertaken by the two education unions for engagement and assuming responsibility for child protection and the elimination of all bad, illegal forms of child labor is irreversible. There is no going back on this commitment and there will be no neglect or hesitation in carrying it out. We have been able to perceptibly increase the awareness of the teachers about the vital, social importance of protecting children from the risks threatening them. Such risks include school abandonment and engagement in different kinds of work, which damage their health and personality and endanger their future. The number of teachers engaged in the work with problematic pupils in and out of the school has been steadily increasing.
A selection of literature, including the international conventions 138 and 182, the relevant recommendations, and the Albanian legislation on this issue has been made available to the union members and all the teachers. Such a selection can serve as a basis for providing training about the international standards. A stable group of union trainers has also been prepared. They have proved their ability to independently provide qualification and organize activities on child protection. This increases the number of teachers participating in this process and represents a powerful basis for a more effective work in the future.
In the four districts we have been working during the past two years the number of pupils, who abandon school, has been reduced and many of those, who had abandoned school, have returned to classes.

The consistent and dedicated work of the teachers in Fier district has led to the return of about 90 pupils, 40 of them from Roma community, to their classes. This was mainly achieved in Levan Commune, where the working group one of Fier has focused its efforts. Some teachers of “Dino Ismaili” school have distinguished themselves with their good results.
About 110 pupils returned to school in Elbasan district thanks to the practical work done by some teachers of “De Rada” School and the good coordination of work between the unions and Aid for Children Association, which is supported by ILO-IPEC.
The qualification work in Shkoder district has led to some practical actions, particularly in some town schools. About 90 pupils have returned to school and the efforts of the teachers of “Pashko Vasa” School for this purpose are commendable.
The activities organized in the framework of the project in the area of Kamze and, particularly in Bathore, as well as the coordination of the activities with “Our Home Bathorja” Association, the school administrations, and the local government authorities led to the return of about 220 pupils to school, particularly pupils in Bathore 1 and Bathore 2 schools.

The education unions have asserted their role among state and social actors engaged in child protection work. One of these actors is the newly established National Child Protection Committee, which is currently operating all over the country. We now know that the role and engagement of the unions, in general, and the education unions, in particular, in this field is irreplaceable. This is particularly owing to the fact that only the unions have the possibility to mobilize thousands of teachers, who are in daily contact with these children. In addition of being their educators, these teachers are, in a way, also like their second parents for them.

The unions have also the necessary intellectual potential to facilitate the process of increasing the awareness about the important social task of child protection and of ensuring that there is an accurate and deep understanding of this task.

In another achievement, we have been able to involve in all our activities in the districts and schools not only our social partners but also the representatives of the local government of different levels, including the councils of the regions, prefectures, municipalities, and communes. They joined the unions in these activities and, in some cases, took part in joint, coordinated actions with the unions.
The education unions have taken steps toward the institutionalization and inclusion of child protection issue in the unions' agenda. The third FSASH Congress and the Congress of the Confederation of the Trade Unions of Albania, KSSH, approved specific resolutions on child protection. The leading bodies of SPASH and the BSPSH also adopted specific decisions on this issue.

There is general agreement that the most widespread forms of child labor are agricultural work, employment of children aged under 16 in production of shoes and clothes, construction work, work in streets and small markets, car wash, search of garbage in the streets or garbage cans, washing car windows, begging, and participation in other forms of informal economy.
Under these circumstances, it is impossible for the education unions to cope with the problem alone, without involving the unions of other professions and the other two big confederations in the fight against child labor. Some steps have been taken to discuss this problem with the unions of agriculture, trade, health, construction, textile-handicraft, and others, but much more efforts are needed in the future.

We decided to invite to this conference representatives of the education unions from the region with which we have had regular relations and contacts for many years. Our goal is that our colleagues should come to know our experience in relation to a problem of concern for all of us, a problem that exists in all our countries. Together we should see the possibility of being more extensively engaged in tackling this issue in the future.
We have benefited from the suggestions and assistance of the personalities, who are invited to this conference, particularly the Dutch colleagues and ILO-IPEC representatives with whom we have effectively and fruitfully cooperated. We have also listened to the opinions and proposals made by the colleagues of the other regional unions, who are present here today. On the basis of all this, we think that we should build a working program to achieve our joint engagement in a common front for the protection of children and the elimination of child labor.
In general terms, the main points of this program could be as follows:

The FSASH and the SPASH express their determination for a long-term engagement in the coalition of the Albanian actors for child protection and the elimination of child labor.

The conclusions of this conference should be included in the action program that our unions will prepare and implement for the relatively short-term period of 2007 to 2008.
During this period the SPASH and the FSASH will expand the map of the districts in which they will work on the prevention and elimination of child labor by including the districts of Durres and Korce, where we will organize all those activities which were carried out in the districts of Tirana, Fier, Shkoder and Elbasan during the ongoing project.
Our goal in all these districts will be to orientate the union work from regional or district level to the specific schools, in which child labor, different forms of child exploitation and school abandonment has become a problem. We will focus, particularly, on eight pilot schools, without stopping the activities in the schools in the other districts.

One of the primary tasks will be to strengthen the existing working groups, establish new groups in the districts of Durres and Korce and extend the activity of these groups not only to central and district levels, but also to the school level.

In order to increase the effectiveness of these groups, to enliven the debate in them, and enhance their management capacities, we will increase our cooperation with the Regional Educational Departments, the Educational Offices, and the school administrations to involve in these action groups the representatives of the local government of every level, the public media, the parent community, the pupils themselves.

We will continue our initiated work on union training with the goal of increasing the number of union members participating in such trainings and raising the level of training quality. We will pass gradually from training exercises at regional and district levels to training at school level with the goal of involving in such training not only union members and school principals, but also the representatives of the parents and pupils.
We will demand and insist on the initiation of the negotiations with the Ministry of Education and Science, MASH, by the end of the first quarter of 2007 on setting up the legal framework for the motivation and remuneration of the teachers, who carry out special work and achieve results with the pupils, who have abandoned school or risk abandoning it, by removing them from this path and bringing them back to school.
We will cooperate with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Regional Educational Departments, the Educational Offices and the local government bodies on adopting concrete measures for gradually equipping the schools with, at least, a minimum number of musical instruments and sport equipment. The goal is that these subjects of major educational, civil and patriotic effect on the young generation are qualitatively raised to contemporary standards and begin playing their role for creating a friendlier environment for pupils, who suffer from different social and economic traumas and problems.
The two central unions will continue the practice of organizing roundtable meetings with the unions and the communities in problematic districts and areas. Such meetings will also be organized at a national level on issues related directly to the unions' engagement in the prevention and elimination of the child labor.
The participation of the education unions in the National Child Protection Committee will offer the opportunity for further strengthening the links and coordinating the actions not only with the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities, but also with the other institutions, which are active in this forum, such as the representatives of the President's office, the Government, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, ILO-IPEC, employers, and non-government organizations.
Now that we have gained more experience and have created the necessary capacities, the FSASH and the SPASH will offer their readiness to serve as centers for the concentration and coordination of the entire activity of the KSSH and BSPSH, unions of the other professions, strengthening the efforts for the protection of children and prevention of child labor.
We express our conviction that the presence of the education unions of the region in this conference will serve as an opportunity to identify appropriate ways for cooperating and discussing our common problems and concerns, exchange information and coordinate and support policies and actions of mutual interest at bilateral or multilateral level.

In conclusion, allow me, on behalf of our two education unions, to take the opportunity of this conference and thank once again the leading bodies and the representatives of the two Dutch unions, AOb and FNV for their all-sided assistance and their solidarity, and I would like to assure them that this has been beneficial not only for the unions, but for the whole Albanian society as well. I would also like to thank ILO-IPEC and its representatives for their support in this common work and I express my confidence in our continued cooperation in the future. I would also like to thank other organizations and institutions, which are engaged in the prevention and elimination of child labor.