Bitola places three village branch schools in suspension and optimises 13 primary class sections

Three branch (podrachni) primary schools in the Bitola municipality — in the villages of Porodin, Kanino and Dihovo — will be put into temporary suspension for the upcoming school year, the municipality announced. At the same time authorities are optimising 13 class sections across eight primary schools in first and sixth grades following guidance from the Ministry of Education and Science (MES).

Local officials say schools are not being closed, only suspended

The mayor, Toni Konjanovski, told reporters this is the first year the municipality is carrying out the optimisation (rationalisation) process and that it begins with first and sixth grades. The aim is for those class sections to have pupil numbers above the legal minimum — that is, above 20 students. Other grades will not be part of this wave of optimisation and may continue to operate with fewer than 20 pupils.

"Let me point out that the branch schools are not being closed; they are being put into suspension. And this is, of course, in agreement with the parents. If there is even a single child whose parent expresses the wish that they continue to study only at that school, we respect that. For pupils whose schools are in suspension, the educational process will be provided at the nearest school and transportation there," Konjanovski said.

Municipal education officials reported that this year Bitola has 665 first-graders, four more than last year. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' (MIA) registers indicate 853 children should be sitting in first-grade benches — 188 more than the number currently enrolled. The municipality's education sector says part of the difference reflects ongoing enrollment, and that some families are abroad but retain the right to return and register their children in school.

Five branch schools this year recorded no new first-graders, but they will remain open because there are pupils in other grades and the villages are still inhabited — the municipality says new enrollments may appear next year. In a notable detail of the optimisation process, two branch schools will operate with just one pupil each as the only student in the whole school.

"We have two branch schools in which we have only one pupil each, but at the parents' request the pupils will remain in those branch schools and they will operate with one pupil each. These are the schools in Poeshevo and Kremenica," said the Municipality of Bitola's education adviser, Natasha Tashkova-Popovska.

Officials also emphasised that the optimisation will not leave any teaching staff without work and no educational assistant will be reassigned this year. "Incidentally, the total number of pupils in primary schools in the Municipality of Bitola is 6,903. In secondary schools, in the 2026/2027 academic year, a total of 698 pupils were enrolled in the first year. In the previous academic year the number of pupils in the first year was 709. That is 11 fewer pupils. The total number of pupils in secondary education in this academic year 2026/2027 is 2,914, compared to the previous academic year 2025/2026 when we had 2,912 pupils," Konjanovski said.

Zh. Zdravkovska

Photo: СДК.МК)