TIRANA, October 27 /ATA/ Through the 2021 budget, there will continue the financial support for pre-school education reform, with the aim of consolidating an adequate and effective funding scheme aimed at continuously improving the quality of services.
Referring to the accompanying report of the 2021 budget, the reform for financing the function of preschool education will continue to provide in 2021 the reduction of the size of groups / classes of children in kindergartens from the current average ratio of 18 children per educator to the ratio of 15 children for an educator.
It also aims to maintain the current level of funding for those municipalities which turn out to have a relatively “high” number of educators for the number of children enrolled in kindergartens, compared to other municipalities.
A more equitable allocation of funds for educators’ salaries is intended, reducing the differences between municipalities regarding the child-to-educator ratio.
In the 2021 budget, salary funds for educators are allocated mainly on the basis of the number of children. More specifically, 60% of the funds for educators’ salaries are allocated on the basis of the number of children (aged 3-6) and 40% on the basis of the number of educators.
The cost of this reform, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy, is 327 million Lek, and is covered by the unconditional transfer to municipalities for 2021.
The reform guarantees the continuation of the service of over 400 additional educators, in order to increase the quality of service in kindergartens. /a.gjonaj//a.a/p.s./
