By Dr. Hasan Bello
Memorie.al – With the Declaration of Independence of Albania and the establishment of the independent Albanian state, the issue of educational development was given primary importance. In the newspaper of the Vlorë government, it was written that: “Only with a sound plowing and with a true education can our nation be revived and strengthened, and can it win the right to enter the ranks of civilized peoples.” According to its capabilities, the Ministry of Education, in the school year 1913-1914, opened 46 elementary schools and two preparatory ‘normal schools’ for the areas that were free. In order to strengthen national unity, the Vlorë government sought to pursue a balanced policy of rapprochement with all religious faiths. This is also evident from the fact that several prominent clerics of the time, such as Haxhi Vehbi Dibra and Dom Nikoll Kaçorri, held important duties in Ismail Qemali’s cabinet.
In the few schools opened by the Vlorë government, alongside scientific subjects, there were also a limited number of religious subjects. Given the mentality of the time and for a state newly emerged from a theocratic empire, the presence of religious instruction was normal.
The years of the First World War constitute one of the most complicated periods in the history of Albania. Our country’s territory turned into a battleground for both warring blocs and was divided into three occupation zones: Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and French. Within the framework of strategic interests for strengthening the Albanian element, the Austro-Hungarian Military Command, which had occupied part of Central and Northern Albania, took measures to establish a local administration, creating three directorates: the General Directorate of Education with director Luigj Gurakuqi, the Directorate of Finance with director Fejzi Alizoti, and the Directorate of Justice with director Avni Dabulla.
What is worth emphasizing is that during this period a large number of Albanian schools were opened and some of the most important curricula for the history of Albanian schooling and pedagogical thought were drafted, such as: Provisional Organization of Albanian Schools, September 20, 1916; Curriculum for the Five Grades of Albanian Elementary Schools, October 18, 1916; The Progress of Albanian Education, January 26, 1918, etc. In all the curricula of these schools, the subject of religious instruction, to be developed and distributed according to grades, was left in the hands of the religious communities. According to the curriculum, this subject occupied three hours per week for the first three years and two hours per week for the fourth and fifth years.
After the end of the First World War, on January 21, 1920, the National Congress of Lushnja was held, which made very important decisions for the salvation of Albania and for national unification. The government emerging from this congress paid special attention to educational development. In this context, the Ministry of Education, on August 15, 1920, called the Educational Congress of Lushnja, which was attended by some of the most prominent educators of our country. Regarding the development of religious subjects in Albanian schools, the Educational Congress of Lushnja decided that the curricula and hours of religious instruction should be left to the authorities of each faith, while the right to control the implementation of these hours should belong to the Ministry of Education.
On November 4, 1920, the Ministry of Education notified the High Council of Sheriat to convene a special commission, which would deal with the examination of questions arising regarding the determination of religious instruction in public education. The main points to be discussed at this meeting were: the allocation of hours for religious instruction in schools attended by Muslims, village schools, elementary schools, city schools, and normal schools; the analytical curricula that would serve as guides for the authors who would draft the books of Muslim religious instruction; and what schedule public schools should follow during the month of Ramadan for the continuation of students’ learning. Despite these concessions, the new Albanian state did not approve any official religion and declared that it pursued a secular policy in relations with the religious communities and practices of the population.
This was done with the aim of strengthening the national bond between Albanians of the three faiths. Consequently, the secular state declared itself as the acting agent of the nation, and in the name of national unification, it exercised strict control over religious affairs and organizations. This was best observed in the orientation followed for the organization of the educational system, where France was taken as the main example, known for its consistency in the secularism of public institutions. Thus, on January 7, 1921, the Minister of Education addressed a letter to the Prime Minister’s office expressing the need this ministry had for models of the various educational systems applied by civilized nations.
He also requested that the General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nuri Vila, who at that time was in Paris, be ordered to send to this ministry the programs, regulations, and laws of elementary education and other school cycles, as well as three copies by various authors for each book used in French elementary schools. This ministry also suggested that such an order be given to the chairman of the Albanian delegation in Geneva, Fan Noli that he also sends the same programs, regulations, and educational laws used in the cantons of Switzerland. This shows that the leaders of the Ministry of Education were inclined to take the most advanced countries as examples.
Relying on the right previously recognized by the Albanian state itself, in the first months of 1921, the High Court of Sheriat asked the Ministry of Education that the right to inspect the subject of religious instruction in schools be taken over by this institution. But the ministry responded categorically to such a request, stating that since there was no specific law in this field yet according to which this issue could be regulated, the inspection of religious instruction for all three faiths would be resolved after a special law was passed. Therefore, such an inspection, together with the examination of the books to be used for this subject, could not be allowed. According to the Minister of Education, Rexhep Mitrovica, known for his extremely secular views, this was a legitimate right and exclusive prerogative of this ministry.
Meanwhile, general dissatisfaction was increasingly appearing among the broad masses of the population. To the complaint of the High Court of Sheriat regarding the problems encountered in the Prefectures of Korça and Gjirokastra, the Ministry of Education replied that according to the reports it had received from the education directorates of these districts, religious instruction for both Muslims and Christians was given regularly in the schools of these prefectures. By decision of the educational councils, this subject had been assigned to language teachers, with the respective hours also allocated. In schools with mixed students, special teachers had been and were being appointed to give religious instruction. Since this instruction was given according to the statute of those prefectures, the Minister of Education wrote that he could not oppose it in any way.
His principle was that religious instruction should be left free and taught in every prefecture and sub-prefecture according to the will and desire of the people. As a result of the pressure created and to establish internal balances in a still unstable political situation for the new Albanian state, Prime Minister Iliaz Vrioni ordered the Ministry of Education to be more careful. The Minister of Education, revolted by these complaints, replied to the Prime Minister’s office that since the Educational Congress of Lushnja, the curricula and hours of religious instruction had been left to the authorities of each faith, while the right to control the implementation of these hours belonged to this ministry.
The minister also complained about the interventions of the Ministry of the Interior, which, interested in maintaining public order and avoiding the possibility of these cases being exploited by some foreign state, had ordered the prefectures and sub-prefectures under its authority to intervene immediately with the schools for the implementation of the religious instruction curriculum.
Finding itself in such a situation, the Ministry of Education requested the formation of a commission that would deal with the drafting of the curriculum for the subject of religious instruction. This commission, which met for the first time on September 16, 1921, included eminent figures of the clergy and prominent Muslim intellectuals, such as: Hafiz Ali Korça, Sali Vuçiterni, Hafiz Ibrahim Dalliu, Halit Rroji, Sali Çeka, Hysen Myshketa, S. Ndroqi, S. Kadiu, etc., with Hoxha Kadriu as chairman.
The commission decided that the subject of Muslim religious instruction should be divided specifically for elementary, city, and secondary schools, taking into account contemporary pedagogical methods. According to the commission’s proposal and with the approval of the Ministry of Education, it was decided to open a six-month course in the city of Shkodra, which would prepare teachers equipped with professional skills for delivering religious instruction in state schools.
For elementary schools covering ages 7-12, according to the above program, the student would learn to read the Qur’an and Ilmihal (basic religious knowledge), taking into account contemporary pedagogical norms.
For the first grade, there would only be practical oral things, not written.
In the second grade, the Albanian ABC book would be taught and Arabic letters would begin according to the appropriate method; in the third grade, chanting of the Qur’an and Ilmihal would begin.
In the fifth grade of elementary school, Islamic history would be taught gradually, as well as a small part of Tajwid (rules of Qur’anic recitation). In the meeting held on October 9, 1921, the commission decided that the hours of religious instruction be divided as follows: in the second grade of elementary school, religious instruction would be 3 hours per week, each hour consisting of two half-hour teaching sessions.
In the third, fourth, and fifth grades, 3 hours per week. Thus the problem of religious instruction in elementary schools came to an end.
Table 1.
Religious instruction in elementary schools (1921)
| Grade | Hours per week |
|——-|—————-|
| I | – |
| II | 3 |
| III | 3 |
| IV | 3 |
| V | 3 |
Table 2.
Religious instruction in city schools (lower secondary)
| Grade | Hours per week |
|——-|—————-|
| I | 3 |
| II | 2 |
| III | 2 |
Table 3.
Religious instruction in normal schools (teacher training)
| Grade | Hours per week |
|——-|—————-|
| I | 3 |
| II | 3 |
| III | 3 |
| IV | 3 |
| V | 3 |
Table 4.
Religious instruction in gymnasiums (upper secondary)
| Grade | Hours per week |
|——-|—————-|
| I | 2 |
| II | 2 |
| III | 3 |
| IV | 2 |
| V | 2 |
For the drafting of religious instruction textbooks, it was decided to create a special commission consisting of Hoxha Kadri Prishtina, Hafiz Ali Korça, Sali Vuçiterni, Sulejman Kadiu, and the representative of the Ministry of Education, Salih Çeka. Based on the decisions taken by the Pedagogical Congress of Lushnja on July 18, 1920, regarding holidays in state schools, alongside holidays of a national character or of other religious faiths, for Muslim students the following feasts were considered holidays: 2 days before Ramadan Bayram (Eid al-Fitr), 5 days on the occasion of Kurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha), 3 days on the occasion of Ramadan Bayram, 1 day on the occasion of Mevlud (Mawlid), and 1 day each on the occasion of the blessed nights.
Table 5.
Holidays for Muslim students
| Feast | Number of days |
|——-|—————-|
| Two days before Ramadan Bayram | 2 |
| Ramadan Bayram | 3 |
| Kurban Bayram | 5 |
| Mevlud | 1 |
| Night of Regaib (Rajab) | 1 |
| Night of Miraj | 1 |
| Night of Berat (Bara’ah) | 1 |
| Night of Kadr (Qadr) | 1 |
| Night of Nevruz (Nowruz) | 1 |
| Total | 16 |
Despite efforts to find the necessary balances between the Ministry of Education on one hand and the Muslim population and the High Court of Sheriat on the other, there were misunderstandings between the two parties, arising mainly from the excessive and hasty measures for the time taken by the Minister of Education, Rexhep Mitrovica. These misunderstandings reached their peak in 1922, when, following complaints from the population of Shkodra, he addressed a letter to the Prime Minister’s office with the words: “We are seeing a great anomaly in our Ministry; although our government is called and declared religious, we are maintaining, especially in the schools of the northern side, religious instruction, and we are destroying many good things in such a way that our Ministry can be said to be religious, something that opposes the principle adopted as a foundation by the Government.”
The same confrontation, now not regarding the issue of religious instruction – which, according to the claims of the clergy and Muslim population, was not being implemented precisely in Albanian schools – but regarding the opening of the gymnasium in Shkodra, Rexhep Mitrovica also had with the Catholic clergy. This was because the latter saw it as a risk of monopolizing education by the state. The cleric P. Ambroz Marlaskaj sought to show in the brochure “A Monument of Inaction in the Field of Education in Albania” (Shkodra, 1922) that the gymnasium would be attended only by Muslim students.
Over time, the hours of religious instruction in state schools were gradually reduced. This caused dissatisfaction among the Muslim clergy. On November 16, 1924, by a special decision, the High Council of Sheriat contested the circular of the Ministry of Education dated September 24, 1924, which ordered the education directorates in each prefecture that:
1) Religious instruction should be given two hours per week, in the final grades, during the last hours of the morning or afternoon sessions.
2) Religious instruction should be given by the teaching staff according to their faith, and in the event of a lack of personnel, instruction in the respective faith would be recommended by the relevant religious authority, which would also undertake the payment of his salary.
3) The Ministry of Education considered it necessary that teachers of each religious faith be in compliance with state and human requirements, that the school should raise and educate children as brothers, etc. A change of faith did not prevent Albanians from being good citizens and honest patriots.
Of all these points, the High Council of Sheriat found point three the most reasonable, since the teachings of the Islamic faith did not conflict with it. However, this Council requested from the Ministry of Education: ensuring that religious instruction be delivered by competent teachers; that the competence to give religious instruction be determined by the religious authorities; that religious authorities be charged with supervising the delivery of religious instruction; that religious instruction be a compulsory subject like other subjects; that this subject be an obstacle to passing the grade if students did not demonstrate adequate proficiency in religious instruction at exam time; that the salaries of religious instruction teachers be paid from the state treasury, like other teachers; that religious instruction for Muslim students be developed according to the analytical curriculum prepared by a special commission that had been submitted to the Ministry of Education via letters 640/II, 640/III dated November 19, 1924, and October 11, 1921, and September 11, 1921, by the Grand Mufti of Albania.
His views on the secularization and nationalization of the Albanian school were explained more synthetically by the Minister of Education, Rexhep Mitrovica, in a special issue of the “Pedagogical Review” titled “Second Letter to the Educators of Albania.” Among other things, he justified that personally he was not against religious beliefs; that it was completely true that one of the means of forming honest people was religious instruction and moral instruction.
But, nevertheless, he adhered to the principle that: “The popular school should be a neutral school, but not with its indifference to religious feelings, because it is a national school, the school of a nation whose citizens are grounded in different religious feelings. The school will respect this religious feeling, will take great care and be careful not to prematurely lead the young elementary school students into passions that do not suit their age.”
Despite these opinions, which, as we have emphasized above, were somewhat hasty for the time, in relation to the mentality but also to the educational reforms followed by the most civilized states of Europe, Rexhep Mitrovica remains a figure with an important contribution in the field of national education. In Albanian schools, the subject of religious instruction continued to be given even later. But now only in elementary schools and in a more reduced form than the period under consideration by us. / Memorie.al
*Researcher, Institute of History, Tirana
