Modernization in education or an attack on traditional values? Through a range of new content in sociology textbooks, high school students will learn about the role of marriage in society, gender, and the LGBT movement.

According to the definition in the textbook for the second year, “The family is a logical consequence of marriage, and marriage is a socially recognized relationship between two adults, usually between a man and a woman.”

The definition is contrary to the Law on Family in Macedonia, where marriage is described exclusively as “an orderly community of life of a man and a woman in which the interests of spouses, family and society are realized”, but the Ministry of Education says that the changes in the textbooks are aimed at modernizing the national education system.

The Ministry of Education says that the revision is done after the received remarks, primarily from the Ombudsman, but also from the public.

Stereotypes and discriminatory content in textbooks negatively affect the development of young people and create a society that will be discriminatory. That must change and students must focus on education to accept diversity, to gain knowledge about gender equality, tolerance, multiculturalism and the like, say the Ministry.