Skopje, 31 October 2024 (MIA) -- The Ministry of Education and Science has drafted a new bill on elementary and high school textbooks and posted it for public scrutiny on the ENER National Electronic Register of Regulations, Education Minister Vesna Janevska said Thursday, urging members of the public to comment on the draft law over the next couple of weeks.

"The new law on textbooks was published [on ENER] yesterday," Janevska said, adding that it would allow publishers to also submit complete textbooks to the Ministry's call.

Textbook manuscripts approved by the Bureau for Development of Education and the National Textbook Committee would then be published by the contractors themselves, she said.

"The duty of printing the textbooks will be delegated to the publishing houses, which would be bound by contracts to deliver the textbooks by Sept. 1. This is what's new," she added.

"We expect to get better quality textbooks and greater efficiency [in delivering them to schools] so we do not find ourselves in the situation of not having textbooks on Sept. 1," the education minister said.

On its webpage, the Ministry of Education and Science has called on the public to offer their suggestions on improving the new textbook bill. If voted into law, the bill will replace the existing law, which was adopted in 2008.

"The draft law integrates suggestions by representatives of publishing houses in Macedonia," the post says. 

"The new law should provide better quality textbooks, reduce the odds of errors like the ones we have had before, and simplify the procurement procedure so textbooks can be delivered to schools on time," it says. mr/