Chashka, 20 March 2024 (MIA) - Caretaker Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi along with the Minister of Education and Science Jeton Shaqiri and the Mayor of Chashka Municipality Goran Stojanovski, visited the "Todor Janev" elementary school Wednesday, where, following previous boycotts, an appropriate solution has been found to address the issues regarding conducting of classes.

According to Xhaferi, classes are progressing as scheduled, while the municipality and the Ministry of Education and Science are currently addressing spatial requirements for the recently established Albanian-language school.

“This will effectively enable classes to be conducted from the next school year in two separate, independent institutions - schools that will, according to their statutes and programs, independently conduct classes in the respective language for which they are formed,” Xhaferi said.

When questioned about the necessity for the children to relocate and the construction of a new facility, Xhaferi said that it is outlined in the founding documents.

“The founding documents of this school, since its establishment as an institution where classes will be conducted in the Macedonian language. So is the both the statute and the founding document. In the situation up to now, due to the lack of spatial opportunities, the children who gravitated here, and according to the Constitution and the law have the right to refuse and receive education and attend classes in their mother tongue, in this case, Albanian, had no other solution but to be temporarily accommodated in one of the facilities,” Xhaferi noted.

The solution to the problem, he said, is a compromise both with the parents and with all stakeholders here, that it will be beneficial for everyone to form a new entity, a new school.

“The government has made the decision to establish the institution "Ditaria" elementary school within the Chashka municipality, where classes will be conducted in the Albanian language. That is the decision. Whether they will study here or elsewhere is crucially within the framework of the municipality in which they reside and within the spatial possibilities in terms of the distance of the school from the children,” Xhaferi said.

Minister Shaqiri pointed out that, together with Prime Minister Xhaferi, they visited the Albanian-language class and another class at the "Todor Janev" elementary school.

“We had an excellent opportunity to observe how children utilize the digital devices installed in the school and how they collaboratively create digital materials alongside the designed textbooks,” Shaqiri said.

He underlined that during today's visit to the Chashka municipality, they had the opportunity to inspect the other investments and projects implemented in the municipality.

Photo: MIA