Skopje, 3 March 2023 (MIA) — The Textbooks and Teaching Are a Must association has sent a request to the Ministry of Education and Science "to solve the security situation in schools within 15 days" while also opposing the authorities' recommendation that schools move classes online on days when they receive bomb threats.

“We, the parents, have been struggling with problems in education over the past three years,” the association writes in a public letter signed by Dragana Spasevska. 

“Today, we again disagree with the Ministry of Education and Culture’s recommendation for students to attend remote classes if there are bomb claims."

“This bomb threat process has been going on not only this month, but for five months.

“They have disrupted our everyday life. It is too stressful and hard for the children and the extended family," she writes, asking: “Who will excuse our leaving work early? Students missing classes? Who will be held accountable for these neglected generations?"

Spasevska also claims online classes at the beginning of the pandemic were not attended by some 40,000 students “because they did not have IT devices and internet at home.”

“It is time for this government to take responsibility,” she writes on behalf of the association, suggesting the Ministry of Education and the Interior Ministry consult with international cyber security experts “to solve this problem.”

Otherwise, she adds, they will take to the streets to express their revolt over “the sinking of education and to stop these controversial educational policies while it is not too late.” mr/