Primary and secondary education in Macedonia has been mandatory since 2008, but the number of children, especially Roma, who do not attend classes shows that this provision of the Law on Education is not being implemented.
Unfortunately, there are no official statistics from the competent Ministry of Education on the number of children out of school, because it is dynamic and changing every day.
It should be noted that the families also received conditional cash benefits for each child involved in primary and secondary education through the MLSP, as additional stimulation and motivation. However, about 5-10% of Roma children are out of the educational process.
Systemic solutions are needed regarding the exclusion of Roma children from the education system. It is certain that there is no child who does not want to go to school, but do those children have the same starting position and opportunities as other non-Roma children.
The socio-economic status of Roma, who have been living in poverty for years, should be taken into account, as unemployment directly affects their children's support in education and their exclusion from the educational process.
