Ombudsman launches investigation into closure of Albanian-language class section at “Penko

Following Alsat’s report on the closure of the fifth Albanian-language class section at “Petar Zdravkovski Penko” Primary School in Butel, the Ombudsman has launched an investigation on its own initiative. Its services have asked the State Education Inspectorate to conduct an inspection, while information about the situation has also been requested from the Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Butel.

The Ombudsman’s office said responses from the institutions are expected to arrive during the coming week. After that, it will examine whether the students’ right to enroll at “Penko” has been violated.

The Municipality of Butel had decided not to open a fifth class section for first grade, even though interest in enrollment was high. At the same school, Macedonian-language class sections with very small numbers of students are operating.

Municipal authorities justified the decision by saying that they would no longer accept students from the Municipality of Cair, even though some of them live just a few meters from the school building.

After the issue was made public, Deputy Education Minister Driton Sulejmani announced that an agreement had been reached to accept students from Cair, but only if they have a brother or sister who had previously been enrolled at the school. This solution has not resolved the issue, as many children who live near the school but do not have a sibling enrolled there have been left out.

While the situation has still not received a satisfactory resolution, the opposition has asked the Butel Municipal Council to reconsider the decision. According to the opposition, the law allows students from Cair to enroll in Butel, as this is provided for in Article 7 of the decision on school zoning.

Despite the requests, the Municipality of Butel, headed by Darko Kostovski, continues to insist that the decision will not be changed. /Alsat/