Author: Andrea Miloshevska, volunteer at EPI
For several years, the Macedonian education system has been trying to implement inclusive models and practices in primary education. Despite the adoption of a number of international Conventions and changes in laws, students with disabilities still face systemic problems. Why?
The right to education is a fundamental human right, ratified in several international legally binding documents. Starting with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as the main instrument of the United Nations, Article 13 states that primary education should be accessible and free for all. To guarantee the right to inclusive education, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2006. As a UN treaty, it requires all member states to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Article 24 guarantees the right to education for all students with disabilities, which is education without discrimination, with adequate resources and individualized support.
Building on the Convention, as a pillar for planning future strategies for advancing the rights of persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth adopted the National Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2023-2030. Recognizing the shortcomings in our society, the goal is “to promote, protect and fully enjoy all human rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities”. The fifth priority area of this strategic document is the plan for inclusive and quality education for all children.
The model of inclusive education from the Convention and the National Strategy, which includes access to resources such as educational assistants and full prevention of discrimination, guarantees increased inclusion in the education system, which in turn leads to increased inclusion in society, as well as greater employment opportunities. Where do current problems prevail?
Steps taken before the National Strategy
Two months before the adoption of the National Strategy, the parliament adopted the Law on the Disability Assessment System, which aimed to upgrade the disability assessment process in order to ensure the realization of the rights and services guaranteed to persons with disabilities. The ninth principle of Article 4 of the law, which promises the digitalization of the disability determination procedure, is still not in effect.
Schools themselves are the ones who collect data on the number of students with disabilities, in order to plan appropriate assistance for each child. However, a registry is needed that will keep assessments and data at the national level, in order to more easily implement policies within the framework of the Convention and the Strategy. The law was introduced in 2023, but complaints from parents of students with disabilities from the last school year prove that such a registry does not exist.
This is a problem for inclusive education. Without a precise number of students with disabilities, we cannot determine the necessary number of resources for academic development to be maximized. Since the exact number of children and students with disabilities is unknown, we do not know qualitatively how inclusive Macedonian education is.
Educational Assistants
One of the main problems with the inclusiveness of our education is the lack of educational assistants. With the amendment of the Law on Primary Education in 2019, special primary schools such as “Zlatan Sremec” and “Idnina” were transformed into schools with resource centers, in order for students with disabilities to be included in regular classes. Therefore, Article 16 stipulates that all primary schools form school inclusive teams, which take care of inclusive policies and practices. At the same time, Article 19 of the law focuses on the support for students with disabilities that should be provided by the school, which includes educational and personal assistants. Accordingly, the Action Plan of the National Strategy has planned 48 million denars annually for the additional equipment and promotion of educational assistants.
In addition to the promised resources and assistants in the Strategy and the Law, parents of children with disabilities have been encountering problems in the system since 2021. According to the Regulation on the Requesting Personal and Educational Assistants (Article 4), the assessment of the number of assistants was scheduled to be carried out from March to June 2021. Not only was the assessment postponed until August, but in September children with atypical development began the school year without assistants, despite the newly established resource centers that should offer experience and special training for primary schools. The Ministry of Education and Science stated that the engagement of educational assistants depends on the expressed needs of students, while the Regulation specifies that primary schools are the ones responsible for submitting requests to the schools with a resource center. A large number of parents have expressed complaints about the lack of assistants, despite having applied as early as February and March, due to the stalled process.
The 2024 school year began in a similar manner – with a shortage and delay in the provision of assistants. This constitutes the exclusion and restriction of students with disabilities from being fully included in the curriculum, which, according to Article 6 of the Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination, constitutes a form of discrimination. As a result, the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (CPPD) initiated ex officio proceedings against the Ministry of Education and Science. Following the proceedings, the CPPD held a meeting with the national associations of persons with disabilities to discuss further solutions for inclusive education, ensuring that efforts to improve the quality of inclusiveness in our primary schools continue.
Discrimination
Inclusive education does not exist in a vacuum. In addition to encompassing resources such as educational assistants, accessible urban plans of schools and surroundings, it also includes protection from discrimination. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in its General Comment No. 4 on the right to inclusive education, states that inclusiveness cannot be achieved without eliminating discrimination and ensuring equal treatment of all students. The Concept for Inclusive Education states that inclusion also implies a change in mindset among the majority of the community, which includes both employees and students. However, despite legal regulation, discrimination is still an obstacle to the education of persons with disabilities.
A case of discrimination that struck the public and the media was the case in the Bashkimi Primary School in Gostivar. In January 2022, a student did not start the second semester in her class due to a boycott by the parents of her classmates, simply because she has Down syndrome. The student was first rotated through three classes, and after a signed petition, she was separated into an inappropriate room. According to reports submitted to the CPPD by her educational assistant, it was noted that the new room did not have proper conditions, the student had no contact with other children, and the assistant requested “support for improving conditions and acceptance by students and parents.” The State Education Inspectorate instructed the principal to act in accordance with the legal regulations of the Concept for Inclusive Education, which requires creating an inclusive environment and adapting the space, conditions and materials for various learning techniques. The CPPD determined that segregation and exclusion had taken place, as well as direct discrimination and incitement to discrimination.
Another case is from December 2024, when a student with specific learning difficulties was enrolled in the primary school “Gjorgjija Pulevski” in Skopje. In the submitted complaint, the student’s mother states that he was subjected to psychological, verbal and physical violence with a series of offensive words, as determined by a special educator. The harassment was reported to the school, but the parents did not receive adequate support. The teachers and the professional service in this case did not provide quality upbringing and education, leading the CPPD to determine that the student experienced indirect discrimination.
What’s next?
Primary education in North Macedonia is on the path to full inclusion, but long-term and systemic change requires multiple steps. After the end of the 2024/25 school year, the Minister of Education announced that the “scope of professionals” eligible to apply as educational assistants would be expanded, meaning a larger number of applicants for the next school year. However, following the initial decisions from the announcement, a number of special educators were rejected without explanation, who raised the issue that the hiring process is politicized. The responses of the Ministry of Education and Science regarding this issue has been merely a “response to the statements of the opposition”, rather than to the parents and assistants, who will bear the long-term consequences.
For this, as well as other reforms and changes, to be effectively implemented, it is necessary for the institutions involved in the Strategy and the Action Plan to update the steps they have taken, in order to transparently monitor their progress. The national strategy is a good example and a guide for the overall improvement of Macedonian society, including education. In order to achieve all the priority areas in the document, it is first necessary to improve public awareness to protect the rights of persons and students with disabilities from any discrimination and to strengthen the accountability of institutions and the education system.
Photo: Freepik
