Protest in front of the Ministry of Education and Culture of high school students and students - They demand an easier state matriculation exam and a better student standard

Student protest in front of the Assembly/Photo: Sloboden Pechat/Meto Zdraev

The Organization for Dialogue and Affirmation of High School Students and Students (ODAS) is organizing a warning protest today in front of the Ministry of Education and Science to update their request for the facilitation of the state matriculation examination. The protest will be joined by the "Student Resistance" movement, from where they announced that they will express their revolt because the institutions, as they say, do not listen to the months-long demands of the students.

ODAS said that the purpose of the protest is to highlight the importance of their views regarding the state matriculation exam and to speed up the adoption of an appropriate solution. They requested from the Government and the Assembly that this year's generation of high school graduates have a reduced amount of material for the final exam or that the number of internal exams be reduced.

The president of ODAS, Anisia Ugrinovska, told MIA that this generation of high school graduates is the most damaged and that they did not have an uninterrupted full school year in their four-year high school education.

- We request a reduction in the amount of material provided for passing the matriculation exam or a shortening of one internet subject. This is due to two biggest factors in the last four years – we were busy with the corona crisis and we had a year and a half of online teaching and the bomb threats. In the meantime, there were other factors, said Ugrinovska, who emphasized that their problem requires a quick solution because the state matriculation exam begins on May 27.

The Minister of Education and Science Jeton Shaqiri said on Tuesday that this request will have to be considered if and what the law allows to be changed during this period for the organization of the state matriculation exam. He announced that next week there will be a meeting with the director of the State Examination Center (DIC) to once again, as he said, "inform the public what the materials are and what is provided in them" and that the students' request will be considered together with the Union of high school students with whom, as he said, he has daily communication.

Shaqiri emphasized that it is important for him that many other processes depend on the state matriculation exam, that is, the enrollment of students who complete secondary education in higher education institutions in this country and in other countries.

The Union of High School Students of the Republic of North Macedonia, as its president Luka Pavićević said three days ago, will have a meeting of the General Assembly in one to two weeks to decide on the issue of passing the state matriculation exam.

- Our youth ambassadors contact high school students from their cities every day, we collect proposals and ideas and analyze them... But it is not just a question of what one group of high school students would like, but everyone should be considered, because there are more interests of the students who are in conflict - those who want to enroll abroad, those who want to enroll in studies here, those who may not even want to enroll in university. So, the problem surrounding the state matriculation is multifaceted and there are several aspects that need to be investigated, said the leader of the Secondary School Union.

In the announcement of joining the high school protest, the "Student Resistance" movement, on the other hand, stated that it is "high time for the student to fight for his rights and express the revolt in the street, when the institutions do not listen to the months-long demands of the students".

After the protest it organized in November last year, "Student Resistance" reacted that "none of what was promised to the students by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Government has been achieved."

Among the reasons for their revolt, this student movement cites: constant delay in the payment of scholarships and student meals, non-transparent negotiation of the price for the subsidized student meal of 140 denars - an amount which, as they say, is degrading in conditions of high inflation, as and marginalizing students.

- Miserable conditions for studying at the faculties, with leaky roofs, unfulfilled promises for the reconstruction of the student dormitories, food poisoning and miserable meals in the student dormitories, continuous brain drain of highly educated young people, the "Student Resistance" announced and announced that it would organize massive demonstrations until what the students demand is met.

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