Macedonian Language Classes Stir Debate

Education Minister Nikola Todorov on Monday visited the Realiteti NGO that leads the block which disputes the government's decision to introduce Macedonian language classes in first grade, instead of third grade, as it is currently.

"I think there is no reason for submitting a motion or for concrete activities by the constitutional court in terms of annulling this decision," Todorov told media before the meeting with NGO representatives on Monday.

However he stressed that “every initiative, especially coming from the civil sector, deserves greetings”.
“Realiteti” and several others have already started gathering signatures to support their initiative. They argue that a child aged six would be too overburdened if it has to learn three languages from the start of its education.

Besides its own language it will have to learn Macedonian and one of the world languages, in this case English.

The decision upset the ethnic Albanians in the country, who represent a quarter of the population. But the head of the Albanian party in power, Ali Ahmeti, from the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, attempted to calm the situation by saying 'nothing is final'.

“Politics should stay out of this issue. We should avoid giving it an ethnic pretext that could harm the ethnic relations in the country,” Ahmeti said noting that, “there is a space for talks on this issue."