Zoran Zaev and his Education Minister Mila Carovska called on a number of supporters from academia to defend their plan to roll elementary school classes into groups. The plan is controversial as it will abolish stand-alone classes such as history – at a time when Bulgaria and Greece demand that Macedonia rewrites its historical narrative to their liking.

During a conference in the Macedonian Parliament today, Zaev insisted that the education system needs to be reformed. “We begin with the ambition to modernize our education system adopting programs that are already in use in developed countries in Europe. We wioll not be hasty. We will work to design the most appropriate education reform in the best interest of the children”, Zaev said.

Zaev and Carovska did not address protests from the top universities and the Macedonian Academy, who insisted that the process is clearly designed to appease Bulgaria and Greece and will cause deep divisions in the society. Greece claims the ancient period of the region’s history while Bulgaria wants Macedonia to acknowledge that the medieval and the period of national struggle are actually part of Bulgarian history. The reform will roll history into an expanded class that will include elements of geography and civics, and will present a great opportunity for Zaev’s regime to rewrite the books and accept demands from these two countries, that go toward denying the stand-alone character of the Macedonian nation and its historic continuity.

The Government relied on supporters such as academic Vlado Kambovski and professor Kiril Barbareev to defend the proposal in broad terms. “We must not delay the adoption of this concept. We can’t waste years and years. This is a timely proposal”, said Kambovski, a former top communist Yugoslav official who continues to exert influence after Macedonia’s independence.

VMRO-DPMNE member of Parliament Ivanka Vasilevska, who teaches history at Maceodnia’ main law faculty, denounced the proposal and said that today’s debate was skewed in favor of long orations by Government supporters.

Instead of allowing experts to talk, the floor was given to Government officials, Skopje Mayor Petre Silegov, and the broadcast was cut short in the latter portions of the debate, which means that the public could not hear opposing arguments. Defenders of the proposal such as Barbareev insisted that there is no need for concern, but their assurances were dispersed when one of them, professor Kolozova said that the new concept must be imposed without allowing for any protest. This forceful approach to impose a reform tailored to meet the needs of neighboring countries and the unprofessional approach, was debunked by a dozen subsequent speakers, Vasilevska said.