SDSM leader Venko Filipche said the new school year started in the country with 3,000 fewer first-graders, 433 fewer classes, and 26 closed schools. He described it as the country’s “saddest” school-year start.
“Three thousand fewer children, 3,000 families. What happened to these people?”, he said, attributing the decline partly to emigration and what he described as a lack of economic progress and support for young families.
He called the shrinking number of students and closed schools indicators of what he described as the government’s failed policies.
VMRO-DPMNE responded to Filipche, saying that the figures should be viewed in the context of demographic trends and policies implemented under previous governments. They accused SDSM of having failed to adequately address demographic challenges and said the current government is working to improve living standards and the overall quality of life.