Brand new school facilities in Albania designed with the Eurocodes

On 28 September 2021, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama inaugurated the “Korb Muca” Primary School and the Kindergarten “Europa” in Qereke, Albania. The new school facilities, which serve 130 pupils and 30 kindergarten children, have been built in an area of 8000 m2 offered by the local government, surrounded by greenery and trees. The school has been designed and constructed according to EN 1998 “Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance”, demonstrating the great progress achieved with the Eurocodes implementation in Albania.

As President Von der Leyen said in her statement on the occasion of her official visit to Albania “[…] I could not have chosen a better start for my tour through the Western Balkans than here in Albania and starting with inaugurating the Korb Muça Kindergarten and school […]” while noting that the school is a symbol for the “enduring cooperation between Albania and the European Union, and of our common future”.

The community of Qereke was heavily affected by the 26th of November 2019 earthquake that hit Albania. The previous school in the village was severely damaged and the community’s children had to go to a school rather far from their village. The “Korb Muca” Primary School and Kindergarten in Qereke is one out of 63 education facilities that are being reconstructed or repaired as part of the EU4Schools Programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP Albania that has also contributed to the Programme.

Educational facilities targeted are part of the Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA), which indicated that a total of 321 public nurseries, Pre-Schools, Basic Schools, and Secondary Schools were fully destroyed, partially damaged or lightly damaged in the 11 municipalities in Albania affected by the 2019 earthquake. As noted by UNPD, 24.000 pupils and kindergarten children will benefit from renovated or reconstructed education facilities. Around 1 million community members will also benefit from this intervention.

Education facilities are being reconstructed or repaired combining the #BuildBackBetter and #BuildBetterTogether approaches. New education facilities are being repaired or reconstructed using the best European standards of safety, namely Eurocode 8, low carbon emission, renewable energy lighting, high accessibility and green spaces.

Additional information

• UNPD post “#EU4SCHOOLS: 160 children in Qereka start the new academic year in brand new facilities”.
• Photos of the Korb Muca” school construction.
• UNPD Albania brochure on Korb Muca school.

Note

The article reproduces information available from UNPD, the EU4Schools portal and the Albanian press using the EMM (original article in Albanian and translation to English). Copying, reproduction and publication of information above is subject to citing the original sources.

http://en.ata.gov.al/