Janevska: Optimization reduced the number of classes by 433, higher salaries in education in March 2027

Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska announced at a press conference today that the new 2026–2027 school year begins tomorrow for 238,000 primary and secondary school students. Classes will continue until June 10, while final-year students will finish on May 17.

Of the total number of students starting the school year, 174,000 are primary school students and 64,000 are secondary school students. A total of 14,952 new students have enrolled in the first grade.

The lack of students has led to the temporary closure of 26 small schools, while the optimization of the education network has resulted in the elimination of 433 classes.

Janevska explained that classes had been merged and, as a result, the education system will have 433 fewer classes this year. Of these, 222 are in primary education and 211 in secondary education. She stressed that no teacher with a permanent employment contract had been dismissed.

According to the minister, textbooks for the new school year have been secured and arrived at schools on time.

She said this is the third consecutive year that textbooks have been secured on time and in the quantities requested by schools, allowing them to be distributed to students tomorrow. Janevska said the supply of textbooks is no longer a challenge as it was in the past. This year, 622,000 textbooks have been secured, while 50 million denars have been saved compared with the year before she took over the institution.

Entirely new textbooks have been prepared for first-, second-, third- and eighth-grade students, as well as for students in the second year of secondary education.

Single-shift schooling has been introduced this year in 620 of the country’s 1,023 school buildings. Meanwhile, work is under way to expand capacity at 14 schools in Skopje and Gradsko.

A total of 1,358 assistants have been engaged in primary schools and another 166 in secondary schools to support students with special educational needs.

Janevska also announced that education workers will receive another pay increase in March 2027, ranging from 7.5 to 10 percent, depending on the level of inflation.