The Ministry of Education and Science has approved the School Textbook Catalog and completed the transfer of funds to the accounts of eligible parents as a subsidy for students’ textbooks from the first through the ninth grade for this school year.

According to the Ministry’s announcement, applications by parents and legal guardians began on July 27 through the eKosova platform. Each submitted application was checked by authorized coordinators at schools, while the verified lists were finally reviewed by the relevant ministry commission.

After the verification process was completed, the list of beneficiaries was forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, which carried out the transfer of funds to the parents’ bank accounts.

The Ministry also announced that it had held negotiations with publishing houses to determine the final retail prices of school textbooks. The negotiating commission prepared the final report on the results of this process.

Based on this report and its legal authorizations, the Ministry of Education and Science approved the official School Textbook Catalog, which sets the final prices for each textbook. These prices are mandatory at all school textbook sales outlets.

The catalog has been published online and can be found at this link: https://mash.rks-gov.net/…/katalogu-i-tekste…/ .

The subsidy amount per parent or student for school textbooks in the Albanian language has been set as follows:

For grades 1 and 2, 60 euros have been allocated.

For grade 3, 65 euros have been allocated.

For grade 4, 70 euros have been allocated.

For grade 5, 80 euros have been allocated.

For grades 6 and 7, 90 euros have been allocated.

For grades 8 and 9, 100 euros have been allocated.

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Textbooks purchased with state funds are not considered the personal property of students. Regulations stipulate that they must be kept in good condition during the school year and returned to the school at the end of it. If the books are lost or damaged, parents are responsible for replacing them.

Although this requirement is clearly defined, its implementation continues to face difficulties. Some subsidized books have been listed for sale on online platforms, while parents and institutions do not share the same position on how these textbooks should be managed and preserved.

At the “Emin Duraku” Primary and Lower Secondary School in Pristina, returning books at the end of the school year has been made a condition for completing the educational process. According to school officials, around 80 percent of students returned the textbooks they had used.

Visar Osmani, principal of the “Emin Duraku” Primary and Lower Secondary School in Pristina, told RTK that the school has enforced the rule since subsidies began to be provided through direct financial payments. He stressed that he did not issue documents to students until the books had been returned, as this was a requirement for completing the school year. According to him, since funds are allocated for each student, new books should be purchased and used for their intended purpose. Osmani said it was unfair to receive the funds and then misuse them, while children attended school with old books and completed workbooks, when the funds had been allocated specifically for new books and materials.

Despite schools’ requests for their return, state-funded textbooks can be found on online sales platforms, with asking prices ranging from 20 to 50 euros.

The Ministry of Education’s Administrative Instruction stipulates that these textbooks do not personally belong to students. They must be preserved and returned to the school when the school year ends, while parents must cover the cost of replacing books that are lost or damaged.

Anita Kadriu, director of the Department of Pre-University Education at the Ministry of Education, told RTK that, under the Administrative Instruction currently in force, this is the current year in which books are subsidized from level one through level nine. She explained that in the following year, subsidies under this instruction will cover levels one through five. Kadriu said that all students in Kosovo, in accordance with the legislation in force, are required to return teaching aids, textbooks and school materials to their schools at the end of the year. Any damage to a textbook, she added, must be compensated for by parents, meaning that preserving the books is the responsibility of each student.

Education experts believe that the issue is not a lack of legal rules, but their failure to be enforced.

Rinor Qehaja, an education expert, told RTK that the Law on Pre-University Education, the Law on School Textbooks and the Administrative Instruction on preserving school textbooks were adopted decades ago. According to him, the need to preserve textbooks is nothing new; what is surprising is the failure to do so and the lack of accountability when books are not returned. Qehaja said responsibility begins with schools, which, in his view, have so far not encouraged students to return textbooks, but also extends to municipal institutions and the Ministry of Education, which have failed to remind or hold other parties accountable for the obligations set out in legislation regarding the return of textbooks subsidized by the Ministry.

Argjend Osmani, also an education expert, believes that responsibility for looking after textbooks should be shared among all parties. He said that preserving books financed with taxpayers’ money should be a priority for the Government, as well as for students and parents. According to him, requiring parents to pay compensation for damaged or lost books is an appropriate measure, as it would also help raise awareness about preserving these textbooks for future generations.

In a written response, the Parents’ Council said that the requirement to return textbooks has existed for a long time but has not been adequately enforced over the years.

According to the Council, one reason is the poor quality of some books, including the paper used to produce them. It also emphasized that another problem is that some textbooks require students to write directly in them.

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For the fourth consecutive year, students in Kosovo will obtain textbooks and school materials through the subsidy scheme.

However, experience from previous years has shown that the money allocated by the government has not always been used for its intended purpose.

Visar Osmani, principal of the “Emin Duraku” school in Pristina, says such cases have mainly involved children from minority communities. According to him, because of difficult economic circumstances, some families used the funds for other needs, while the children returned to school without books, leaving the institution to find a solution for them.

Another problem was also identified in the National Audit Office’s 2025 report. The document revealed that parents who did not meet the criteria had benefited from funds earmarked for the purchase of school textbooks.

According to the report, the amount received by these applicants exceeded €60,000, even though they did not meet the stipulated requirements.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation says measures have been taken this year to prevent such cases from recurring.

The director of MESTI’s Department of Pre-University Education said the subsidy mechanism has improved from year to year. She stressed that, in the fourth year of the scheme’s implementation, verification by coordinators prevents funds from being granted for a student who does not attend classes within the education system, stopping such cases at the review stage.

Last year, the process was also accompanied by problems with textbook supplies and delays during September.

Osmani says three titles were unavailable at the school he leads during that month. Until new editions reached the market, they were temporarily replaced with older editions. He hopes such a situation will not recur this year because, according to him, children ultimately bear the consequences.

The United Education Union of Kosovo has also expressed concerns about possible delays.

SBASHK chairman Rrahman Jasharaj says there may be delays this year as well, although he hopes they will not be as prolonged as in previous years, when September ended without all students having received their books. He also cites as a problem the possibility that not all parents have bank accounts, which would leave some of them without reimbursement through no fault of their own.

MESTI says it is working to ensure that students have their textbooks available on September 1.

To curb misuse, the Ministry has stipulated that the books must be returned undamaged. If the textbooks are not kept in proper condition, they must be paid for.

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