“When I grow up, I want to become an engineer. I don’t think I will only use technology, I want to create new technologies and new platforms.”
For Natan, a ten-year-old student at Bedrie Bebeziqi School in Durrës, technology is no longer just something he uses. It is becoming part of the future he imagines for himself.
Across Albania, children as young as six are now learning to code, exploring digital platforms, and developing skills that could shape their future careers through 216 new SmartLabs — technology-equipped learning spaces — established as part of a World Bank Group-supported project. By investing in these facilities alongside teacher training and curriculum reforms, Albania’s experiment with GovTech in the classroom is paying off, with over 70,000 students like Natan across the country gaining digital skills and hands-on experience while learning to collaborate, solve problems, and think critically.
Albania’s New Model for Bringing Technology into Classrooms
Around the world, investments in digital equipment for schools have produced mixed results. Without parallel efforts to train teachers, undertake curriculum changes, and bolster coordination between governmental institutions, introducing new technologies like smartboards, tablets, and laptops into schools risks creating expensive, underutilized distractions to valuable classroom learning time.
Under the World Bank Group-financed Improving Equitable Access to High Standard Public Services through GovTech Program for Results (PforR), supported by the Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership and the Governance & Institutions Umbrella Program, Albania’s Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI) have developed a coordinated model for establishing and operating SmartLabs across the country. The Ministry has led on pedagogy and teacher development, providing training to date for 800 educators — ICT, and primary school teachers, principals, and local education specialists — to integrate technology across subjects. AKSHI’s efforts have focused on the digital infrastructure and connectivity needed to support the rollout of SmartLabs nationwide.
As Deputy Minister of Education Orjana Osmani emphasized: “This program is not just about introducing technology in schools. SmartLabs is about transforming how children learn, improving the quality of education — and making sure every child in Albania, wherever they live, has the same opportunity to develop the digital skills that the labor market demands.“
read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/08/13/across-albania-students-learn-digital-skills-for-jobs-of-tomorrow
