Skopje, 2 March 2023 (MIA) — Following the bomb alerts in 120 Skopje schools Wednesday and students’ complaints that they were unable to access their online classes unless they created new, free Microsoft Teams accounts, the Ministry of Education and Science responded that the schools.mk online platform, set up to be used amid the pandemic, remained functional. It is based on the Teams messaging app. 

“The Teams application is being used [for online instruction],” education authorities told MIA. “It works and each student can attend access and use their account with their username and password.” 

“We received notifications from several schools that there were disruptions,” they said. “But after a short while, [some] students joined with their user accounts.”

Last week, following bomb scares in many elementary and high schools nationwide, education authorities recommended that the schools move classes online whenever they received a threat.

Earlier this morning, 18 schools in Skopje were evacuated after receiving new bomb threats. Bomb squads have been sent to inspect the premises, the Ministry of Interior said.

All of the 120 bomb threats emailed to Skopje schools on Wednesday turned out to be false, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release late last night. mr/