Language Instruction in Macedonia Can Foster Ethnic Understanding, Group Says

06/01/2005

A task force on education is recommending the introduction of alternative bilingual education in the Macedonian school system. Joint extracurricular activities and instruction in two or more languages will help promote better understanding between ethnic communities, the group says.

By Marija Lazarova for Southeast European Times in Skopje -- 06/01/05

The task force is recommending that Macedonian-language students learn a language of one of the country's other ethnic communities. [AFP]

In a new report, the Education Task Force of the European Centre for Minority Issues Office Policy Dialogue Initiative in Skopje (ECMI) has called for the introduction of alternative bilingual education in Macedonia. To promote better understanding between ethnic communities, the group said, schools should introduce joint extracurricular activities with instruction in two or more languages.

The report, published in December, recommends that schools should require students who receive Macedonian-language instruction to learn at least one more language spoken by other ethnic communities in Macedonia. In regions with a second official language, study of the second language should be mandatory, the task force said.

According to Michael Sczporluk, a political adviser at ECMI, team experts have not only suggested studying Albanian but all languages of ethnic communities in environments where a second official language is in use. "One of the recommendations is also higher quality studying of Macedonian language by students belonging to ethnic communities," Sczporluk said.

The recommendations have been sent to the Macedonian Education Ministry, the Education Development Bureau, the Language Development of Communities Administration and to parliament. Sonja Lipitkova, the chairman of the Parliamentary Education Committee, confirmed that the committee has discussed the report. None of the member attendees expressed negative opinions on its recommendations, she said.

"ECMI works on improvement of the status of minorities," said Konstantin Petkovski, vice director of the Education Development Bureau and a member of the task force. "With these suggestions, ECMI members want to improve multiculturalism and cast off stereotypes in education."

The group also suggested that students learn about the culture and traditions of other ethnic communities and that textbooks be adjusted to reflect a multicultural environment.