Skopje, 10 March 2022 (MIA) – The system’s institutions’ efforts are focused on solving the gaps in human capital development that start early and expand over time, which means equal treatment and investment in every segment and level of the education system, starting from preschool all the way to higher education, said Minister of Education and Science Jeton Shaqiri during his address on day two of the conference "The Interplay between Child Wellbeing and Academic Attainment". Held in Skopje, the event is a joint initiative of the government, the British Embassy in Skopje and UNICEF. “The importance of preschool education is confirmed with the TIMSS international study which says that children should be more included in preschools, because the time they spend there affects their future educational achievements. The PISA test secures valuable data which helps identify and address the existing gaps in elementary and high school education of children, and the Elementary School Conception was built based on the indicators gained from this testing,” Shaqiri said. The Minister also pointed out that fully new curriculums are being implemented in phases, which will replace memorizing facts with learning through understanding, more interaction between the teacher and student during class, and applying new digital tools which simplify the process of education whilst also making it more effective. “The new textbooks for the 4th grade have become available digitally, and the new textbooks for other grades will become digitized in stages. Smartboards were purchased for schools that didn’t have them. The Ministry of Education and Science obtained 10 thousand tablets for fourth-graders who needed this kind of state support, and the local self-governments partnered with the civil and business sectors to make IT technology available to students,” Shaqiri pointed out. The changes in the education system, the Education Ministry said, stipulate support of the teaching staff. The Minister said that one of the goals is to increase motivation to work and strengthen the teachers’ skills for creative classes and to stimulate the students’ potential. “We’ve increased the salaries of the employees in elementary and high schools, we’ve added career progress opportunities, and we’re organizing training which leads to professional development. The Bureau for the Development of Education’s last public call was related to organizing training for 29 topics for teachers and an additional 7 for expert cooperators, and they entail content for cooperation between the school and family to prevent peer bullying, cyberbullying, to apply innovative, interactive approaches in class etc.,” Shaqiri said. He shared the fact that the Ministry’s 2022 budget sets aside MKD 291 million to hire 500 education assistants, and this number could increase depending on needs, as well as an additional 1.5 million for class aids. “Speaking of our students’ wellbeing, I believe it’s important to mention the continuous development of the scholarship system. We’re working on implementing new categories of scholarships and financial support, whilst increasing the existing ones. All student scholarships are higher as of this schoolyear, raising the monthly amounts of MKD 2200, 2900 to 3500,” the Minister concluded. dk/ba/