The third Steering Committee meeting of the joint EU/CoE Horizontal facility Action “Fight bullying and extremism in the education system in Albania” hosted by the Council of Europe Office in Tirana was held in Tirana on 23 November to discuss the current status of the project activities and the way forward. This meeting brought together the Deputy Minister on Pre-University Education, Ms. Besa Shahini, representatives from the Delegation of the EU to Albania, representatives from the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth, the Institute for Development of Education, representatives from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security.

Key achievements such as the conduction of the large-scale national study on bullying and extremism in the education system in Albania, training delivered, national and international conferences and the Anti-Bullying Open Days were reported in this meeting. One of the major achievements of this action is the wide visibility and outreach in the media especially of the Findings from the National Survey and the Anti-Bullying Open Days showcasing the great interest and importance of this intervention in the education system in Albania.  

Representatives of the Ministry of Education emphasised the difference that this action is making in schools in terms of training teachers and raising awareness of all actors involved in the education on these controversial issues. Given the impact that this action has achieved within a short time, the Ministry of Education informed that some of the pilot schools of this action will be included in the Ministry’s initiative “Schools as Community Centres”.