TIRANA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth has postponed elections for the governing bodies in public universities set for June 12 due to COVID-19 pandemic, Minister Besa Shahini announced here on Friday.
Via a Facebook post, Shahini announced the cancellation of June 12 elections for governing bodies in public universities, underlining that elections would be postponed to the time when students' participation can be ensured.
"The preparatory process for the elections must continue so that the election campaign can start immediately after the announcement of the new date," Shahini added.
Last week, representatives of higher education institutions debated over the decision of holding these elections due to the unusual situation Albania is going through and when students are absent from university auditoriums.
Elections for the governing bodies of public universities are held every four years and student votes account for 10 percent of the total votes during the elections.
Since March 9, all educational institutions in Albania including universities have been closed in accordance with the government's decision to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
On April 30, Shahini announced that students graduating in this academic year will resume classes in June and the exams for this category of students will take place during the month of July and will last until the first week of August.
As for first and second year students, they will resume classes on Aug. 25, and exams will take place in October of 2020, according to the minister.
As of Friday, health authorities in the country reported eight new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 850, with 620 recoveries and 31 fatalities. Enditem
