On the first day of school, next Monday, students will receive their textbooks. This initiative is intended to address the issue of past practices where timely delivery of textbooks was not managed properly. Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska commented on the situation, stating that textbooks will not be available for foreign languages yet. She explained that, legally, she cannot stop the ongoing tender for these textbooks or initiate a new one until the current legal process is completed.

Regarding secondary education, Janevska mentioned that textbooks have been provided for high schools according to their requests for the year. Distribution is ongoing and is expected to be completed by Sunday.

“High schools will have textbooks, including those for foreign languages. For secondary vocational schools, we are printing over 164 new titles that students have never had before. We will continue to approve and print additional textbooks throughout the year,” Janevska said after visiting the “Ljuben Lape” Primary School in the Airport municipality.

In schools that can accommodate single-shift teaching, an analysis has been conducted for 142 schools. This year, 124 schools will implement single-shift teaching, with some of these schools previously operating in this mode.

“Next year, I expect that entire municipalities, such as Kavadarci, will benefit from investments from both the municipality and the Ministry of Education, allowing all schools in Kavadarci to start single-shift teaching. Over time, this number will continue to grow,” the minister added.

Regarding spatial conditions and the transfer of a small number of students from regional to central schools, Janevska noted that optimization has been completed in ten municipalities, with students transferred to central schools without affecting staff. Optimization is ongoing in an additional 20 municipalities, starting with those where fewer schools need to be adjusted. However, in some areas like the Airport municipality, new schools need to be built instead of optimizing existing ones.

“In ten municipalities, optimization has been completed and is in effect this year. In 20 municipalities, the process is underway. The number of students varies each year due to migration and population changes, so we are accelerating the analysis this year. Our goal is to improve socialization and teaching conditions for students. As a government, we have developed a plan for single-shift and full-day teaching to ensure that teachers retain their jobs while providing students with extended learning opportunities,” Janevska concluded.