March 7, today 138 years since the first Albanian Teacher's School in Korça
2025-03-07 08:58:50
TiranaPost
This date has been commemorated since the 1960s, when the Albanian state decided that this day would be an official holiday in commemoration of the founding of the first Albanian School of Korça, which was founded on March 7, 1887.
Teachers' Day at the national level serves to appreciate the best traditions of the Albanian school, the figure of the teacher, but also all education workers as educators of the new generation and as active contributors to the development and progress of Albanian society.
The Korça Teacher's College was an important center for cultural formation and the raising of consciousness and morality among the people. It promoted the patriotic education of the younger generation and the broad masses.
Among other things, this event was a great victory for the Albanian people, since until then, due to the Ottoman occupation, teaching was done privately inside homes in a secret manner. Thus, since that day, March 7 is celebrated in Albania as Teachers' Day to commemorate that important cultural and historical event.
Even under difficult conditions, when the teaching of the Albanian language was strictly prohibited due to the conditions under Ottoman rule, the Korça school remained open for almost 15 years. Its leaders were well-known figures of the Albanian Renaissance such as: Pandeli Sotiri, Petro Nini Luarasi, Nuçi Naçi, Thoma Avrami, etc.
With the opportunities they had, they became the initiators of the creation of the first documented school textbooks. They devoted great importance to equipping them with the appropriate teaching tools to further develop and distribute them to students. Educated and with a high spirit of patriotism, these students would become worthy followers of their teachers' ideology and devoted fighters for the fight for freedom and independence in the future.
The spread of the teaching of the mother tongue in our country after the opening of the Albanian School of Korça, made the school go down in history as the pioneer of our national education and its opening day become a national holiday.
