Skopje, 26 June 2025 (MIA) -- Minister of Education Vesna Janevska said Thursday in Parliament that half of the 75 straight-A students recently taking the entrance exam for Skopje's Georgi Dimitrov High School had failed it, which she said was due to elementary school students getting more favorable final grades than they actually deserved.

"The other day at Georgi Dimitrov, 75 straight-A students took the entrance exam, and 50 percent of them did not pass," Janevska said, claiming that students were often given higher final grades through a vote at teachers' meetings held at the end of the academic year.

"No more upping grades at teachers' meetings. If students want a higher grade, they should show up together with their parents and take an exam in front of a committee, instead of asking teachers to raise their hands because they like the student's parent or because the mayor said so," the education minister said.

"I will be changing the law regarding anything I see that doesn't work on the ground.

"We have to make our educational system start working.

"Our young people have left because we have a dysfunctional educational system. Because those who have deserved their A's do not want those who got D's to have their grades turned into A's at the teachers' meeting," she said.

Georgi Dimitrov High School had more applicants than it had space for, so an entrance examination was held to admit the highest-scoring students. mr/