Skopje, 11 May 2025 (MIA) -- The Ministry of Education and Science has the budget to replace all damaged textbooks so school principals should notify the education authorities if they need new ones so their students will be more motivated by receiving new books to study from, Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska told a press conference Wednesday.

She was commenting on the numerous complaints she had received recently from parents whose children were given significantly damaged textbooks to study from. 

According to the education minister, schools need to inspect all textbooks that students give back at the end of the school year and evaluate if they are in good enough condition for other students to study from.

She called on principals to form committees of teachers to evaluate the textbooks and ask for new ones "so that students are not discouraged because there are pages missing and they cannot read the books."

Compared to last year's 6,000, schools this year so far reported that 18,000 textbooks were damaged and needed replacing, Janevska said.

The education minister also told reporters that all elementary school students would get all the needed textbooks on Sept. 1, including foreign language textbooks.

Seventh-grade students will receive completely new books, in line with the new curriculum that foresees History and Geography as well as Chemistry and Physics as separate subjects because parents and teachers requested these subjects be studied separately, according to Janevska. 

First year high schoolers, too, will get new textbooks, developed in accordance with the new syllabus.

"These procedures are near the end and we are set to begin what we need to do so all schools are ready by Sept. 1," Janevska said.

She also said Ministry of Education and Science employees would not be allowed to take any days off this summer because the bulk of their work duties were to be done "in the summer months -- printing and procuring textbooks as well as high school and university enrollment quotas."

Speaking at the press conference, the education minister also urged school children "to balance out the fun with school-assigned book reading, catching up with lessons they may have missed and getting ready for the next year." 

Janevska also pointed out dropping numbers of elementary and high school students. In the 2024-25 academic year, she said, schools had enrolled 17,000 fewer students than seven years ago. She said this was due to people leaving the country. She added that some 5,000 Macedonian students were enrolled in undergraduate programs at foreign universities at the moment. mr/