UNMIK/PR/212
PRISTINA—On Friday, 7 April, Swiss Federal Councilor Ruth Metzler visited "Jeta e Re" (new life) school and gymnasium in Komoran village, Glogovac/Gllogovci Municipality to deliver Albanian-language textbooks to the primary school and to offer 600 addition books for the library.
Later that day she handed over the first shipment of Bosniac-language books to UNMIK co-head of education, Steffie Schnoor. They will be distributed as soon as the rest of the consignment arrives from Sarajevo through UNICEF.
Together with a consortium of donors, the Swiss government is funding an emergency project to equip primary and secondary schools in Kosovo with textbooks. Most of the Albanian-language books were delivered earlier this year and in 1999. A similar project is ongoing with Turkish, Bosniac and Serbian textbooks.
These textbooks have been donated, so that parents will not have to pay for them. Pupils are expected to use them and return them to the schools in good condition at the end of the school year. The books will then be re-used until a common curriculum is prepared and books for it are produced.
The books were printed in Kosovo, by 17 different printers, providing employment for dozens of people and stimulating small businesses.
Contributions to the project were made by the governments of U.S., U.K., Canada, Austria, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland, as well as by the Kosovo Foundation for an Open Society, and with UNICEF assistance. The Bosnian textbooks were partially funded by the Ministry of Education of the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The Komoran school was rehabilitated with Swiss government money at a total cost of DM 585,000. This included work on the electricial system, central heating and sanitary installations.