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when the lessons stopped being held in Greek. The retired village teacher from
Dhërmi/Drimades, Marko Gjikopulli, suggests that the lessons in the Greek language were
held until 1945 while the linguist Natasha Sotiri of Qeparo argues that they lasted until 1921,
when Albania under the leadership of Ahmed Zogu strengthened its central administration
and prohibited any education in languages other than Albanian (Gjikopulli and Prifti 2006:
268). The discrepancy of both accounts leaves gaps, which are filled up with various
politically motivated interpretations, which lead to contestations about the “first language”
and the constant struggle of its “preservation”. Nevertheless, in the period of totalitarian
leadership the Albanian language became the official language of the state. With the
exception of the areas populated by the official Greek minority, where teaching was held in
Greek and Albanian language, in all other areas of Albania including Dhërmi/Drimades and
Himarë/Himara area lessons were taught only in Albanian language. At present, fifteen years
after the end of communism, a need appeared in circles of the local intellectuals to open a
Greek school. After many years of efforts this need was realised when a private Greek school
was opened in the Himarë/Himara municipality in spring of 2006.
Today there are 54 pupils in the primary school of Gjika Bixhili in Dhërmi/Drimades. Five of
them come from the neighbourhood village of Palasa, where the primary school was closed
down due to the lack of pupils 35 . The rest of the children live in Dhërmi/Drimades. Among
them are seven children whose either one or both parents originate from the village, while
other 49 pupils are children of newcomers, originating from other areas of Albania. Due to the
small number of pupils the classes are coupled. The first grade is thus coupled with the
second, the third with the fourth, etc. In 2005, a system of nine-year schooling was
introduced, while before that they had eight years of schooling. There are eight teachers in
this school. One of them teaches on the pre-school level, two teachers take care of the first
four grades of the primary school and five of teachers teach in the next five grades of the
primary school. One teacher lives in Palasa while the others live in Dhërmi/Drimades. Four
among them declare themselves as horiani, three (female) teachers are married to horiani and
one is a newcomer. One of the in-married teachers and all four horiani speak the local Greek
dialect with the Athenian accent besides the southern Albanian dialect. This is so because they
35 Similarly to the primary school in Palasa (413 residents), the school in Pilur (536 residents) was also closed
down due to the lack of pupils while the children of Ilias used to visit the primary school of Gjika Bixhili in
Dhërmi/Drimades. According to Gjikopulli and Prifti, the Himarë/Himara municipality conjoins the secondary
school “Spiro Gjiknuri” with 95 pupils beside the primary school “Spile” with 270 pupils. The primary school of
Vuno (486 residents) has 14 pupils, Qeparo (1591 residents) 45 pupils, and Kudhes (904 residents) 19 pupils
(Gjikopulli and Prifti 2006: 185).
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