In the past year, we have achieved a large part of our program commitments and goals, laying the foundation for building a high-quality and competitive national education system that ensures equality, efficiency, relevant knowledge and skills, alignment with the labor market, and general satisfaction among all stakeholders in the educational process.
The Government is also placing a strong focus on science, investing twice as much as before, making education and science key development resources for the country,” emphasized the Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Dr. Vesna Janevska, at today’s press conference. She was joined by the Deputy Minister, the State Secretary, and the directors of the Pedagogical Service, the Bureau for Development of Education, and the State Examination Center to report on the results achieved during the first year of their term.
“The shortage of textbooks was the first challenge we faced, but we overcame it despite the short timeframe. We printed and distributed the already approved ones and created many new textbooks and teaching materials for primary education, in subjects that previously had no learning resources at all. We also printed over 100 new titles for secondary vocational education. Students had and will continue to have proper materials to study from in the new school year,” said Janevska, noting that procurement and printing processes for textbooks for September are underway, including those for foreign languages, which have been missing for six years.
She thanked the teachers for actively participating in the creation and implementation of the reforms, emphasizing that the state's care for them will continue to grow.
“We made a decision to gradually and realistically increase teachers’ salaries over a period of four years. They have already received over a 12% increase. University professors received a 14% raise starting January this year,” said Janevska.
She also reminded that teachers have been relieved of the administrative burden of entering identical data three times—into the e-diary, transcripts, and main books—allowing them more time to focus on the core of the teaching process.
Regarding infrastructure investments, she stated that 2 billion denars are being used to build 7 new school facilities, 20 schools have been renovated, 4 new sports halls are under construction, and two student dormitories in Skopje are being thoroughly renovated. Over 50 schools will receive solar panels, and by the end of the year, construction will continue on the FINKI and Faculty of Physical Culture buildings, while campuses for “Mother Teresa” University in Skopje and the Medical Faculty in Shtip will also begin construction.
“Two processes I personally strongly advocate for from the very beginning of my mandate are the optimization of the school network and the introduction of single-shift schooling. Both are progressing in parallel and will enable higher quality teaching, longer time for students at school, greater socialization for students from rural areas, long-term financial savings and effective reinvestment, and a solution to the issue of surplus teachers,” said the Minister, adding that 153 schools operated in a single shift this year, and 6 more are expected to do so soon.
She expressed satisfaction with the cooperation with students, saying that they are working together to improve youth standards and, so far, around 10 of their requests to expand student rights and opportunities have been accepted.
“Science is our focus because without science, there is no development. We doubled the budget for the development of scientific research activities, which now amounts to 680 million denars. Three calls have already been published for funding innovative research projects. We also became partners with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, which opened its laboratories to Macedonian scientists and researchers. Access to scientific literature databases like Web of Science and Scopus has been made free for all staff and students at public universities,” the Minister added.
In the past year, the State Education Inspectorate and Ministry services conducted over 2,000 inspections of educational and scientific institutions. Due to inactivity or failure to act on instructions, 14 private scientific institutes and higher vocational schools were shut down.
During this period, legal regulations were also upgraded, introducing educational assistants in secondary schools, providing more support for talented students participating in international competitions, and financial assistance for teacher associations organizing international Olympiads in Macedonia. Career guidance programs have been enabled for students in primary and secondary schools. Additionally, formal education is now regulated for persons serving sentences in correctional institutions and for individuals beyond school age.
Minister Janevska emphasized the importance of continuing at the same pace:
“It’s clear how past neglect has affected us—with children ranking low on PISA tests, universities absent from global rankings, and scientists leaving to work in other countries.”
She also thanked the media for monitoring institutional work and for their constructive feedback that helps improve institutional efficiency.