Bitola: Three branch schools suspended, optimization of 13 classes

Three branch schools in the Municipality of Bitola — in the villages of Porodin, Poeshevo and Dihovo — will be put into suspension in the upcoming school year, the municipality announced. At the same time, following directions from the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), 13 class groups in eight primary schools are being optimized in first and sixth grades.

The mayor: The schools are not being closed, they are temporarily out of function

Mayor Toni Konjanovski said at a press conference that this is the first year the optimization (rationalization) process is being implemented in Bitola schools and that it starts from first and sixth grades. Those class groups will be ensured a number of pupils above the legal minimum — that is, above 20 pupils. Other grades this year will not be covered and will be able to operate as before with fewer than 20 pupils.

"Let us note that the branch schools are not being closed, they are being put into suspension. And that is of course in agreement with the parents. If there is even one child whose parent expresses the wish for them to continue studying only at that school, we will respect that. For pupils where the schools are in suspension, the teaching process will be provided at the nearest school and transport to it will be arranged," Konjanovski said.

The Municipal Sector for Education reported that this year 665 first‑graders were enrolled in the Municipality of Bitola, which is 4 more than last year. However, according to lists from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), 853 pupils were expected to take first grade seats — that is, 188 more than are currently enrolled. According to the municipality, the difference is partly because the enrollment process is still ongoing and because of families who temporarily live abroad and may return to register their children.

In five branch schools no first‑graders were enrolled this year, but those schools will remain operating because there are pupils in the other grades and because they are inhabited villages — it is possible there will be new enrollments next year. An interesting point in the process is that two branch schools will operate with one pupil each as the sole pupil in the entire school.

"We have two branch schools in which we have only one pupil each, but at the request of the parents the pupils will remain in those branch schools and will operate with one pupil each. Those are the schools in Poeshevo and Kremenica," said the municipal education advisor Natasha Tashkova‑Popovska.

Konjanovski emphasized that optimization will not jeopardize any teacher's job and that this year no educational assistant will be reassigned. "Otherwise, the total number of pupils in primary schools in the Municipality of Bitola is 6,903. In secondary schools in the 2026/2027 school year a total of 698 pupils enrolled in first year. In the previous school year the number of first‑year pupils was 709. That means 11 fewer pupils. The total number of pupils in secondary education this school year 2026/2027 is 2,914, compared to the previous 2025/2026 school year when we had 2,912 pupils," Konjanovski said.

Zh. Zdravkovska

Photo: SDK.MK