Students and teachers from Hajdar Dushi High School in Gjakova are showing creativity, problem-solving skills, and teamwork, while rethinking the future in sustainable terms. With the skills gained during USAID’s After School Support for Teens activity, the students have repurposed old wooden furniture for the creation of new learning materials for their school, such as a periodic table, trigonometric circle, and a clock.
To create the wall-size periodic table, the teachers and students utilized the USAID-funded Makerspace and equipment in their school to connect science principles with project-based learning. Such learning activities provide an opportunity for students to gain practical skills in cross-curricular projects and encourage students to think beyond the norm, while developing much-needed problem solving skills.
Zana Vokshi-Meqa, a teacher and school facilitator at Hajdar Dushi High School in Gjakova said that “using the recycled wood from school obsolete desks and chairs to create new school materials is ideal also to raise environmental awareness.” Zana explained that to implement these activities, parents and community members also contributed by donating old furniture unused from their end. This approach to solving local problems brought the community together to reimagine the school space, reinforced local ownership, and generated benefits for the students and the school community.
Erlis Bartusha, a student involved in this activity, said that with “hard work, patience, and hope, we have achieved our goal of creating the necessary materials to make learning as attractive as possible.” The success of the students and teachers of Hajdar Dushi High School is a great reminder of the importance of teaching problem-solving skills and having the space and equipment in schools where students, teachers, parents, and other community members can jointly work to re-imagine the future while addressing local problems—in this case, by creating much-needed school products through recycled materials.
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