High schools in Tetovo and Gostivar will start the school year holding only online classes. The Polog Valley region is hit especially bad by the current wave of the epidemic, due to the large number of mainly ethnic Albanian emigrants who came there from Western Europe during the summer.

Tetovo Mayor Teuta Arifi made the demand to keep high schools closed at the start of the year, in order to protect the students and their parents. Elementary schools will still start the year with in-person teaching.