Macedonia

The constitutional provisions relating to education are found in Macedonia's Constitution of 1994. The Constitution includes systemic laws on primary, secondary, and higher education. The provisions of the Constitution and the law have been implemented through separate by-laws and other ministerial acts executing the laws. For example, for primary school, one such act is the document defining the content and organization of primary education, adopted by the Pedagogical Council of the Republic of Macedonia. The decision of what to teach at schools is shared between lower level governmental agencies and supervisory groups in which teachers from schools and universities participate.

Article 48, clause 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia regulates the education of ethnic minorities. Members of Macedonia's various ethnic nationalities have the right to instruction in their language throughout primary and secondary education, as determined by law. In schools where education is carried out in the language of a nationality, the Macedonian language is also studied.

Macedonian is the language of education in 803 primary schools with 182,465 pupils; Albanian is in 281 primary schools with 71,490 pupils; Turkish is in 54 schools with 5,491 pupils; and Serbian is in 14 schools with 751 pupils. Recent legislation provides for the Vlach and Romany languages to be taught in schools as well.

Macedonian language instruction is also delivered in 89 secondary schools with 67,202 pupils, whereas Albanian instruction is in 18 schools with 7,218 pupils, while Turkish instruction occurs in 4 schools with 383 pupils. Recent legislation also allows for Serbian secondary schools but, due to low numbers of pupils, no such schools were opened as of 2000.

Main laws governing higher education include the Law on Vocational Education, enacted January 16, 1985, which regulates universities, colleges, and academies; and the Law on the University of March 1, 1994, which deals only with universities. The administrative structure of higher education is overseen by the Ministry of Education and Physical Culture (MEPC).