There are 362 psychologists and 308 pedagogues in 304 primary schools in the country, and 108 psychologists and 102 pedagogues are employed in 100 secondary schools. All schools employ at least one professional associate (pedagogue, psychologist, sociologist, special educator and rehabilitator...), and often there are more, the Ministry of Education and Science told MIA.

- The municipalities and the City of Skopje every year after completing the enrollments according to the analyzes and real needs at the level of the municipality / City of Skopje and according to the guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Science, submit requests for hiring teachers and professional associates for the new school year. After the analysis of employment needs based on new funding, the MES submits the requests to the Ministry of Finance, the MES clarified.

They also point out that the municipalities / City of Skopje have the right to hire persons on a contract of employment basis who can be hired as professional collaborators and for whom the municipality / City of Skopje itself is responsible as the founders of the schools.

The question of the staffing of professional staff and the extent to which the educational component in education has been neglected was updated again last month after the tragedy in the school in Belgrade and is often asked when the public learns about cases of peer violence. After the mass murder of the teenager in Serbia, a series of debates were organized last month in order to hear new ideas, measures and activities that will supplement the existing institutional mechanism for maintaining safety in schools and building a peaceful environment.

The Ministry of Education and Culture appealed to the professional teams in schools to be less occupied with administrative work, and to devote themselves more to the work for which they exist - taking care of the mental health of students and helping and having a confidential conversation with each student when he is dealing with a problem.

– It is important that your work is in line with the profession and that you are enabled to work smoothly every day to build a climate for progress in schools. In these conditions, it became evident that there should be a new structure of your work and release from administrative duties in the school, Minister Jeton Shaqiri said, emphasizing their role as a bridge to both teachers and parents.

In addition to having a sufficient staff of professional collaborators, schools should also have spatial conditions for their uninterrupted work so that the professional collaborator can have a face-to-face meeting with a student at any moment.

It is defined in one of the ten recommendations – conclusions adopted by the Government for increasing the security in school facilities and preventing interpersonal violence. They were determined in a broad consultative discussion with experts, pedagogues and practicing psychologists and with the involvement of high school students and parents. The recommendations basically promote the right values ​​among the students, that they should be good people who will further build a peaceful and harmonious society.

According to the conclusions, which entered into force immediately, and are expected to have visible application from the coming school year, primary and secondary schools undertake to create an organization and protocol for the way of using mobile phones by students and teachers during classes and in the rooms of the schools.

The use of mobile phones in classrooms should be limited in order to encourage discussion, exchange of ideas, open conversations, focus on learning content, etc. Also, all primary and secondary schools are instructed to hold meetings with all parents/guardians on the topic of improving processes, security, organization and conditions in school facilities and the environment.

The recommendation states that the meeting should bring up the topic of whether school uniforms are required as a dress code for students.

- Parents should familiarize themselves with the teachers' code of ethics and consider supplementing the existing codes with rules for the dress of teaching staff and professional services, the recommendation states.

All local governments in cooperation with the inter-municipal centers for social work will have to form expert teams at the municipality level whose focus of work will be conversations individually with each child/student in each school.

MES also emphasizes that all stakeholders should be involved, pointing out that the contribution of each of us is important in achieving the goal.

- It is necessary to give preference to verbal dialogue between students and peaceful conflict resolution. To increase awareness of the consequences of possible deviant behavior, which we have seen can be catastrophic... To speak openly with young people, to listen to their voice, their ideas and pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Let's work on improving the educational component of the educational process and help teachers and professional staff in schools in their efforts to upgrade their capacities for recognizing and preventing violence, the MES points out.

The Ministry is also working on expanding the training programs for teachers in the area of ​​professional competencies for peace education, so that the preparation of the peace education modules that will be implemented from the academic year 2023/2024 is in the final phase.

Peace education is an integral part of the educational system through the implementation of the "Peace Education" Program, in which the Ministry of Education and Culture has been cooperating with the Children's Embassy "Megjasi" for 13 years.

So far, 200 teachers from 14 schools in the state from eight cities have been involved in the trainings for non-violent communication, teamwork and prevention of violence and conflicts.

In order to report cases of violence and deviant phenomena in schools, a month ago the Ministry of Education opened the electronic addresses [email protected] и [email protected] which will be active in the next school year as well.