The offensive language and discrimination towards Albanians in education textbooks in North Macedonia are to be replaced by digital books.

The idea launched by the Ministry of Education was met by the rejection of all actors involved, while the secondary education union in North Macedonia partially agreed to replace the school textbooks.

“The entire education system must be digitalized, but not in the way anticipated by the education minister. This means that there cannot be only one solution, so for students that have access to e-learning, while those that don’t should go and print out the material. We’re against this method because every student has his own way of learning and we should respect individual preferences in this case whether they like hard copy or e-learning”, said Blendi Hodai from the union.

High school teacher Naser Miftari voiced his concern that the transition in such a brief time may not lead a positive outcome.

“In principle, since everything is being applied in this form, I think it should be positive. If we don’t approach the matter with great responsibility, in its publishment and writing, we might be put in front of the same problems”, he said.

If the idea does come to life, it is to be applied by the beginning of next school year.

Traditional hard copy learning materials will continue to be provided to pupils until the third grade, while others will be replaced with electronic ones.

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