Skopje, 15 November 2023 (MIA) — In line with the ongoing public education reform, education authorities have developed the new seventh grade curriculum to be introduced in the 2024-25 school year, and a call for textbook authors will be published on Nov. 16, Minister of Education Jeton Shaqiri told reporters Wednesday.

According to Minister Shaqiri, this year's procedure for publishing new textbooks was starting earlier than last year's.

The education authorities' late development of the sixth grade curriculum had caused delays in the publication of textbooks and their delivery to sixth graders, but they should receive their seventh grade textbooks on time next year, he said.

"We have had problems in the past, but we want to prove that with timely calls for authors, there will be plenty of time to make and print the textbooks for the next school year," Shaqiri said.

"As minister, I requested the eighth and ninth grade curricula be developed at the same time so we have continuity in what should be fully implemented in elementary education.

"Questions may arise as to why some material was not covered in the seventh grade. So we will have an answer as to whether it is covered by the end of elementary education," he said.

The education minister said the fifth and sixth grade History and Civics textbooks were still not published and delivered to schools because there were no available experts to review and edit the final manuscripts.

He said the Ministry of Education and Science, after no one applied to their calls, wrote to university professors nationwide to ask them to review and edit the manuscripts.

In the meantime, he said, "the students have learning materials for the entire year, prepared by the Education Development Bureau according to the curriculum."

"I expect that, as soon as possible, we will involve professors as reviewers and their comments will be taken into account by the National Textbook Commission," he said. mr/