BDI criticizes school registration rules for Albanian students in Butel

The Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) has strongly criticized a new agreement regarding the registration of Albanian students at the ‘Petar Zdravkovski – Penko’ primary school in Butel. The agreement, presented by Deputy Minister of Education Driton Sulejmani, was reached between the Ministry of Education and the Butel Municipality.

According to the BDI, the agreement stipulates that Albanian students living near the school in the Çairi neighborhood will only be admitted to first-grade classes if they have a sibling already enrolled in the institution. Furthermore, the agreement reportedly does not include the opening of a new parallel class in the Albanian language.

The BDI has labeled these measures as discriminatory and illegal, arguing they serve to restrict the right of Albanian children to receive education in their mother tongue by imposing arbitrary family-based criteria. The party is demanding that the Ministry of Education and the Butel Municipality publish the exact number of Albanian children who have requested registration.