Skopje, 11 April 2024 (MIA) - The Institute for Good Governance and Euro-Atlantic Perspectives (IDUEP) organized a debate "DiGi Youth Dialogue" at the Student Cultural Center in Skopje on Thursday, with the main focus being young people and digitization. IDUEP President Bojan Kordalov, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Vice-President and MP Monika Zajkova, and VMRO-DPMNE's Secretary of International Cooperation and additional Deputy Minister of Information Society and Administration, Stefan Andonovski, attended the debate.

IDUEP President Kordalov said the accent of today's debate is how to make digitization a national process and not be dependent on a political party in power because, according to him, digitization is a non-partisan issue, especially when it concerns young people's priorities. 

"Issues, challenges and demands of every person are important, especially young people's points and priorities, including digitization. That is why we are organizing a joint debate to discuss how to realistically make digitization in the interest of every person, a part of the national process and not be dependent on the political party in power," Kordalov noted.

LDP’s Zajkova pointed out that digitization is one of the processes for dealing with corruption, adding that today's debate shows that citizens' priority will not be forgotten by the future parliamentary composition. Even though the country has a strategy for the ICT industry and cybersecurity, real digitization is still lagging behind. She noted that at a time when the world is discussing AI, it is unacceptable for the country to be unable to find a way to digitize society.

"We know that one of the main topics of concern is corruption, and digitization is one of the processes that can deal with the grand and petty corruption that young people face every day. The topic of digitization in higher education came at the request of the students, and the Parliament already debated the topic. Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances, the Parliament is no longer holding sessions during election season and the issue remains unresolved. This debate today is to show that no matter the political party we are affiliated with, citizens remain our priority, especially young people, and will not be forgotten by the future parliamentary composition," Zajkova stressed. 

VMRO-DPMNE’s Andonovski said we were witnessing non-systematic solutions, as each institution has its own approach to digitization. He pointed out that the Education Ministry, and other institutions, have seen that in addition to paper applications young people must also have online applications.

"We are currently witnessing ad hoc non-systematic solutions, where every institution has its own approach to digitization. Those that manage to move forward are more successful than those that lag behind. Young people, students, and high-schoolers are left to fend for themselves, so certain institutions have a more advanced access, and other institutions have paper-based access. The most problematic is the hybrid approach where young people must have both paper and online applications, and this is evidenced not only by the Education Ministry, but other institutions as well," Andonovski said. ssh/nn/

Photo: MIA