According to him, this phenomenon recurs almost every year, especially affecting three-year programs but also some four-year tracks such as textiles, machinery, transportation and multimedia in cities like Skopje, Kumanovo, Tetovo, Gostivar and Ohrid. However, he stressed that this does not necessarily lead to the immediate closure of these classes.

“This happens because of a lack of interest in certain fields and the overall decline in student numbers. There is a possibility that some classes or profiles may not be formed. After the first enrollment period, some of them, both three-year and four-year courses, have ended up with very few registered students,” said Driton Sulejmani, Deputy Minister of Education.

At the vocational school “Boro Petrushevski” in Skopje, the “Road Transport” and “Freight Forwarding” profiles each have only 8 students. This low figure has put the continuity of these classes in doubt and caused concern among teachers, who risk losing their jobs due to insufficient teaching hours.

“With these enrollment numbers, we face the risk that almost three classes could be lost. A vocational subject teacher has 3 or 4 lessons per week. Imagine if a course does not open, then the hours are not filled and the teacher could be left without work. We are all extremely at risk,” said Kastriot Kasapi, teacher at “Boro Petrushevski” vocational school.

Deputy Minister Sulejmani gave an overall figure of 15,705 students enrolled in secondary education. He noted that interest in vocational schools remains considerably higher than for gymnasiums, with over 10,800 semi-graduates choosing technical and dual education. Regarding school principals’ requests to tolerate classes with reduced student numbers and to lower the grade threshold during the August enrollment period, Sulejmani confirmed that the Ministry is reviewing these requests.

“The August period is usually used for students who have lost a school year and enroll then. However, this period is also typically used by students who, for various reasons, could not enroll in the first round. There are cases when we intervene by lowering the grade threshold, but this must be based on a well-founded request from the schools, explaining why this reduction is sought. Our goal as the Ministry of Education is to help schools where possible and where requests are justified, in order to save as many classes as possible,” explained Driton Sulejmani, Deputy Minister of Education.

The last hope for educational institutions and at-risk teachers lies in the August period, when around 300 additional students are expected to enroll. This deadline will ultimately determine the future of a significant number of vocational classes across the country. /Alsat.mk

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