Education Minister Jeton Shaqiri has issued a clear deadline for the Bureau for the Development of Education to design the seventh-grade curriculum in alignment with ongoing reforms. The deadline, set for the end of November, is crucial to ensure that new textbooks will be available in time for the 2024-25 school year. Minister Shaqiri emphasized that if this deadline is not met, he will hold individuals accountable for the delay. Meeting this timeline would allow for eight months for the development, editing, revision, and printing of the new seventh-grade textbooks.

Responding to a question about the delay in delivering sixth-grade textbooks to elementary schools in September, Minister Shaqiri explained that the delay was due to the fact that the new curriculum had not been finalized until March 2023. However, he noted that these textbooks were now being distributed to most elementary schools in Skopje and other cities. For schools that have not received their textbooks yet, the minister expressed his intention to investigate the situation, although he stressed that this was not a widespread issue.

Minister Shaqiri assured that all textbooks approved by the National Commission on Textbooks have been printed and are currently in the process of being delivered. He also highlighted that next year’s textbook printing procedures would be more timely due to personnel changes in the Bureau for the Development of Education, including the appointment of a new director.

Additionally, the minister noted that report card forms for the current school year were not delayed, and the third-grade curriculum was developed on time, with the corresponding textbooks being delivered without delay.