Ilia Dilo (Sheperi), national education activist, linguist, Teacher of the People, was born in Sheper, Zagoria province (Gjirokastër). Head of the “Zosimea” high school in Ioannina; worked for 15 years as a teacher in Bënjë of Përmet. He participated in the patriotic movement and for the spread of books in the Albanian language. For his activity in these fields, he was persecuted, expelled from his homeland and sentenced to death by anti-Albanian political circles (1914). In the years of World War I, he participated in the activities for the protection of the country as a whole. In the years 1918-1919, he turned the schools of the villages of the province of Zagoria into the Albanian language. He was among the founders of the “Vëllazëria” (“Brotherhood”) society of Gjirokastra (1919) and its secretary. He participated in the Educational Congress of Lushnja (1920) and Tirana (1922). He provided assistance for the expansion of the school network and for the preparation of educational programs. He worked as an Albanian teacher in Vlora, at the Gjirokastra High School and at the “Normal” girls’ school in Korça. In the field of linguistics, he published the work “Gramatika dhe sintaksa e gjuhës shqipe sidomos e toskërishtes për shkollat e mesme” (“Grammar and syntax of the Albanian language especially of Tosk in secondary schools”) (Vlorë, 1927), one of the best grammars of the time, with many personal contributions, which presents the state of the Albanian language of those years. In its preface, the author expresses some valuable views and opinions on various problems of grammar and literary language. The work was republished in Rome (1972) and in Tirana (2001). He passed away in 1945. (In the photo: Ilia Dilo)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 482.
Photo: © https://www.radiandradi.com/10194/
Graphic processing: AHCF
