Skopje, 27 September 2023 (MIA) – In a press release Wednesday, the Ministry of Education and Science said that it has secured 1.374.342 textbooks so far in 2023. Over 98 percent of them, have already been delivered.

The Ministry said the process of delivering textbooks to primary and secondary school students has been significantly improved this year.

“For comparison, 5 years ago, i.e., in 2018, 823.604 textbooks were procured. In 2019, the number of provided textbooks was 655.934, in 2020 it stood at a total of 732.634 textbooks. In the 2021/2022 school year, a total of 748.421 textbooks were procured. The data shows that textbooks, as one of the basic aids for studying, are significantly more available compared to previous years,” said the Ministry.

The Ministry said that the textbooks for first to fifth grade, for which it owns the rights, have been fully acquired and distributed to the schools, as well as the textbooks for seventh to ninth grade, which are owned by publishers. The natural sciences, Macedonian language, and Albanian language textbooks for sixth grade have been approved, and will be fully distributed by the end of next week, said the Ministry, adding that the math textbook has been approved as well, and it will be printed and delivered after all procedures are concluded.

“It is important to note that for the first time after around 15 years, new textbooks have been provided for 150 subjects in vocational secondary schools, but also in regular secondary schools. They are also being printed and delivered to the schools in stages, in line with the requests,” said the Ministry in the press release.

Photo: MIA Archive