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A student (L) arrives at school in Tirana, capital of Albania, Sept. 16, 2019. Albania began the new school year on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

TIRANA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The new 2019-2020 school year started on Monday all over Albania's pre-university education system. An opening ceremony held in one of the country's schools was attended by Prime Minister Edi Rama.

In his address at the ceremony at the newly constructed "Servete Maci" school in the capital Tirana, the prime minister congratulated all the students all over the country on this new school year.

"I am happy that about 225,000 first through fifth grade students have received their free books this year. Next year we will include the sixth and seventh grade students in this scheme. As the government has pledged, by 2021 all students in first through ninth grade will receive free books," Rama said.

According to the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, there are over 450,000 students in Albania's pre-university education system, and about 55,000 children entered school benches for the first time this autumn.