Skopje, 7 October 2024 (MIA) – The disregard for education that lasted until June has been replaced with a 100% commitment, and in just a hundred days, we initiated major reforms aimed at improving education quality and creating a brighter future for our youth. We have halted the harmful policies that led to a decline of 17,000 students in the past seven years, Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska said Monday in her report marking 100 days in office.

During a press conference, she expressed satisfaction with the achievements in her department and announced that the Ministry of Education and Science will carry on with the same strong pace, fully focused on students, pupils, teachers and professors, just as in the first three months.

“My first promise, which has now been fulfilled, was to ensure that all students have timely access to textbooks. For the first time in seven years, textbooks were delivered on time for every student. More than one million copies were distributed on school desks on the first day of school. We also managed to create additional new textbooks and teaching materials for subjects that previously had no resources at all, around ten for elementary education and approximately one hundred new titles for secondary vocational education,” Janevska said.

Concerning the foreign language textbooks that were unavailable on September 1 due to problems in the procurement process, Janevska said that the procurement is likely to be initiated by January at the latest, which means that textbooks for all foreign languages will be available for the next school year.

In terms of infrastructure, she reported that 36 capital investments in the construction and renovation of schools are currently underway, as well as 40 smaller repairs to school facilities.

She noted that the decision for establishment of a Faculty of Health Sciences at the International University in Struga has been revoked, as it did not meet the necessary conditions to start operating.

“Quality, economical, and effective single-shift teaching has been implemented in 140 schools, and the number will soon increase by around 50. Alongside teachers, new curricula are being designed for seventh and ninth grades, after the previous government stopped the concept for primary education in these grades and merged subjects, devaluing them by combing history with geography and civic education,” Janevska said.

According to the Minister, over 1,000 educational assistants have been engaged in primary schools for the first time, and additional needs reported by parents and guardians will be addressed as well.

Janevska stated that the legal framework is being revised, with five laws currently under public discussion: the Law on Primary Education, the Law on Secondary Education, the Law on Vocational Education and Training, the Law on Adult Education, and the Law on the National Qualifications Framework. She also noted that five more laws will soon pass through expert review.

Janevska revealed that three months ago, they inherited a budget deficit of 5 billion denars in the Ministry of Education and Science. Thanks to the budget rebalancing, some of the funds were returned to the treasury, allowing services to be maintained and overdue payments to both citizens and institutions to be made.

“We secured 900 million denars for the payment of regular schools salaries and 1.4 billion denars for increased salaries of teachers in higher education, including university professors. We settled the unpaid scholarships for pupils and students, as well as the awards for students and their mentors who secured first place in national competitions or top positions in international competitions, and cleared the outstanding payments for intercity transportation for students. We provided funds that were not paid by the previous government for participation in the PISA in 2022, for the US Fulbright program, for the Horizon Europe program, and others, which is indeed shameful,” Janevska said.

Photo: MIA