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North Macedonia education system optimization

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2026-09-23 08:09 UTC → 2026-09-23 19:35 UTC · added ~~removed~~

North Macedonia’s Minister of Education and Science, Vesna Janevska, is implementing measures to optimize the national education system by reducing university enrollment quotas in fields with high unemployment, such as law and economics. To address a severe demographic crisis, the ministry is restructuring the school network for the 2026/2027 academic year, which includes the potential closure of 26 rural schools that have registered no first-grade students. The scale of the decline is significant; high school student numbers have dropped from over 20,000 to approximately 14,000 over the last decade. In response to lower birth rates and increased emigration, the government intends to optimize the school network by transitioning toward single-shift and full-day schooling models. Minister Janevska emphasized that these restructuring efforts are not intended to result in job losses for educators. Instead, teachers whose regular teaching hours are reduced due to fewer classes may be reassigned to supplementary activities, such as elective subjects, extracurricular programs, or specialized support for talented students and those with learning difficulties. Regarding recent enrollment trends, Minister Janevska clarified that the number of students enrolling in first grade this year is approximately 1,500 fewer than last year. She noted this corrected a previous, more alarming estimate of 4,900 fewer students, attributing the discrepancy to delays in schools updating the electronic registry. Regional outcomes vary. In Kumanovo, 898 first-grade students enrolled, a slight decrease of six compared to last year, though the total municipality student population rose slightly to 12,988. Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski stated no schools in the municipality have closed despite the national optimization process. Conversely, in the Bogovinje Municipality, the ‘Abdyl Frashëri’ school in Sellcë e Keqe has closed, and in the Struga region, the ‘Rexhep Fejza’ school in Xhepin is closing after 42 years.

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