An advanced vision in managing the student dormitories in Albania and the Balkans

Abstract

The need for setting up dormitories was present from the opening of Islamic schools, in Albania and the Balkans. Normally, the dormitories were built close to every madrasa and students at the school vicinity and from the remote areas of the country were accommodated.

The dormitories looked like a large family and operated based on the Islamic principles and norms. They provided students with suitable living conditions and education opportunities, with a sound educational environment where harmony, understanding, kindness, spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance prevailed. Education, good conduct, and pure morality are the basic features of these dormitories wherever and whenever they existed.

In these dormitories, students were taught with rigor and discipline to gain knowledge of social and natural sciences. Thus, these settings served as the cradle of elite intellectuals, contributing to the field of Islamic faith, culture and science.

Students residing in dormitories had special  relationships with the surrounding community from the onset of Islamic school dormitory. Since the  16th  century,  the  townspeople  of  Berat and Shkodra provided in kind assistance to dormitories to meet the staple needs for cereals and animal products, and clothing. Presently, Muslim believers make contributions in food during the month of Ramadan, in the main Balkan cities where dormitories are located. In the dormitories, the students’ mother tongue was constantly used, namely: Bosnian and Albanian in the respective countries, and religious rituals were performed in Albanian and by Albanian theologians.

At the same time, the dormitory life in Albanian and Balkan madrasas laid the foundations of ethical conduct and harmonious and understanding relationship among the community of the young.