Summary of North Macedonia 2022 Report

Accompanying document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions

Writer: Paul Schamp

Editor: Olga Ruiz Pilato

• Despite improvements in the legal framework, action to provide equal access to education for children with disabilities is at an early stage.
• More work and legislation are required for the protection of educational rights of boys and girls in educational-correctional facilities
  • Boys in juvenile educational-correctional facility near Tetovo did have access to education between September 2021 and June 2022, but conditions have improved.
  • Girls in the educational-correctional facility in the female ward of Idrizovo prison have not had appropriate education for a year. Legislation should be amended to find long-term solutions for educational-correctional measures for girls.
• Progress in Roma inclusion through Roma inclusion strategy 2020-2030
  • Strategy does not address participation, empowerment and capacity-building
  • No systematic response to address street children
  • No measures taken to prevent irregular attendance of Roma children in primary education, and no measures to reintegrate students who are not enrolled or who have left without completing it.
  • Segregation in schools remains high
• The education of asylum-seeking children in primary schools needs improvement
  • Additionally, no systematic Macedonian language and extracurricular classes are offered to foster an easy transition between education levels, older children continue to miss education opportunities due to these gaps.
• Improvements in reforming education curricula and reducing skills mismatches is hampered by lack of funding and capacity
  • Progressed well in terms of number of people with higher educational attainment, however curricula are not well suited to equip graduates with necessary skills to match labor demand
  • State financial support is insufficient
  • Coordination between education sector and businesses is weak
  • Public spending on education and training amounted to 3.3% of GDP in 2020 compared to an average of 3.75 of GDP in the past five years. However, it has increased to 3.76% of GDP in 2021.
    • This is below the EU level of 5% and below peer-country averages
  • Education spending is inefficiently distributed between municipalities on account of outdated formulas for redistribution of public education funds
• In 2022, care and education are delivered in 77 public and 30 private kindergartens
• North Macedonia is moderately prepared in the area of education, but limited progress was made in the reporting period
  • Still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Implementation of the 2018-2025 education strategy is slow
  • Slow development of a proper monitoring system
• Recommendations from last year’s report were only partially addressed. In particular, North Macedonia should
  • Adopt the vocational education and training (VET) law and establish and operate the regional VET centers.
  • Finalize and adopt the law for adult education
  • Improve access to quality education for all, in particular children with disabilities and Roma children
• Enrollment remains low
  • Only 45% of children from 3-6 years of age in North Macedonia were enrolled in licensed childhood education institutions (2020-2021)
    • Slight improvement to the previous year.
  • Enrollment in higher education remains low. The number of students enrolled in the first year of studies has been declining in the last 3 years
  • However, the number of ROMA students enrolled in higher education rose from 46% to 52% in the last three years.

Cover image : https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/North-Macedonia/North-Macedonia-new-premier-new-European-perspectives-215366