Opening of the Integrated Bilingual Primary School Project in Strumica Municipality

8/8/2019 Opening of the Integrated Bilingual Primary School Project in Strumica Municipality

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/opening-of-the-integrated-bilingual-primary-school-project-in-strumica-municipality 1/3

Exploring open source sofware opportunies.

On 03.11.2010 in Strumica,

the Executive Director of NDC Skopje, Mr. Sasho Stojkovski and Mr. Zoran Zaev - mayor of Strumica have signed an

“Agreement for cooperation” for the project “Integrated bilingual primary school” – a project that will be realized i

the next three years within the municipal primary school “Marshal Tito” in Strumica. The project includes two

classes, i.e. 33 students (Macedonians and Turks) enrolled in irst grade this academic year, their parents and the

teachers from the regular and informal lectures. With this project, Macedonia got its second primary integrated and

bilingual school, in which for the irst time the Integrated lectures will be realized bilingually, in Macedonian and

Turkish. The project has been inancially supported by Strumica Municipality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs o

the Kingdom Norway – through Nansen Dialogue Center Skopje.

WEB SOLUTIONS

Oficial opening of the project

“Integrated Bilingual Primary School”

in municipality of Strumica Republic of Macedonia



The oficial ceremony for opening of the project has been attended by Mr.

Abdullaqim Ademi – Vice President of the Government of Republic of Macedonia,

Mr. Nikola Todorov – Minister for Education and Science, Mr. Baskar Herman –

representative of the Norwegian Embassy in Macedonia, Mr. Steinar Bryn – Director

of the Nansen Network on the Balkans, parents of the students, representatives of

Strumica Municipality and NDC Skopje, as well as by part of the professors from the

Integrated secondary school in Jegunovce Municipality.

This school is the oldest one in Strumica and exists since 1925, it has always been

multiethnic and it: “When you want and can do something, the religious and

language barriers do not exist, and when you invest in the education of the children,

the result is always positive” – said Ms. Snezana Koleva, Director of MPS “Marsal

Tito” in Strumica.

“The beginning of the project makes me particularly happy and I am a big optimist

that the project in this school will succeed because of the following speciic reasons:

The projects for integrated and bilingual education which are being realized by NDC

Skopje three years already in Jegunovce Municipality, have been recognized by the

Management of this school and Strumica Municipality, so this is how the initiative

for the beginning of this project in this school has started; the realization of thisproject will be inancially supported by Strumica Municipality and the especially

important thing was the motivation, the desire and the excitement of the school

staff and the parents of the students, who were eagerly waiting for the day when

this project will begin. Dear teachers, although we are talking about a project, such

projects are something new in Macedonia and of particular signiicance for NDC

Skopje, the school, Strumica Municipality and Macedonia” – said Sasho Stojkovski in

his speech.

“Does it really matter that some speak this language, others speak another

language? Does it matter that some are celebrating Christmas and Easter and others

are celebrating Kurban and Ramazan Bayram? Does it matter that somebody’snames are Stefan, Nadica, Zoran, Ljubica, Ilija and Elena, whereas others are named

Jonus, Orhan, Gjuldzan, Xhelal or Ymyt? Their common denominator is “children” or

“students” who through this project will show and prove that opposites attract. I am

convinced that the Municipal primary school “Marsal Tito” will be a good example

also for the other similar schools in Macedonia and Strumica Municipality will be

proud that in the project of Nansen Dialogue Center has recognized positive energy

which gives the desired beneits. Hoping that this irst step will be an introduction

in walking on long tracks, I wish for the students and their parents at the end to

honestly say that it “многу е добар” and “cok guzel” – said the Mayor of Strumica

Municipality, Zoran Zaev.

“In order for Strumica to function as a multiethnic municipality, in order for

Macedonia to function as a multiethnic country, in order for whole Europe to

function as a multiethnic society, we need a multiethnic dialogue and this project

offers exactly that. Fridtjof Nansen – the Nobel Prize Winner for Peace had the idea

to reach the North Pole by Nordic skiing. Everybody told him it was impossible! But

his answer was that nothing is impossible, just that the impossible needed more

time! This is my irst visit to Strumica and through it, Europe has become bigger and

more realistic for me. Europe is not a concept, Europe is not an idea, Europe is a

place where we all live together and where all of us could learn from each other” –

said Steinar Bryn, Director of the Nansen Network on the Balkans.



“The school, the employees and the parents here in Strumica may represent a

symbol of what can be achieved if we realize that the ethnic groups should work

together in order for us to have a better future. All of you are giving a good

example for other multiethnic municipalities, through the support that you give to

this project for his continuance and to be sustainable. As you already know,

Norway is already supporting one integrated and bilingual primary school in

Macedonia and Norway is very satisied with the work of Nansen Dialogue Center.

We hope that they will make success here, as well, said Mr. Baskar Herman –

representative of the Norwegian Embassy in Macedonia.

The Minister for Education, Nikola Todorov, has also emphasized the importance

of this project and its achievements. “I am convinced that the realization of this

project, whose goals are to overcome stereotypes and the barriers of the children

related to their ethnic and cultural background, to intensify the constructive

collaborative relations between the children from different ethnic communities,

as well as a tolerant relation towards differences of social, ethnic and cultural

character, will be a solid basis for successful implementation of the Strategy for

integrated education, adopted by the Government of Republic of Macedonia. Weare strongly supporting this concept of integrated education and this concept

should not exclude anyone – on the contrary, it should unite and should make it

possible to get a higher level of integrated society. That is one of the key

preconditions for building a successful multicultural and functional democracy in

Republic of Macedonia” – said Minister Nikola Todorov.

“I have accepted the invitation for promotion of the second successful project for

integrated bilingual primary school in Macedonia with pleasure, a project in

which I have been directly involved in Jegunovce Municipality. The experience isshowing that the use of dialogue, including of the parents, teachers and the local

government are very important components for a successful realization of the

project. Recently, the Government of Republic of Macedonia has adopted the

Strategy for integrated education, in which the main goal is to give contribution

through ive components to the joint studying of the students from different

ethnic communities, to have joint regular and extracurricular activities, to include

all educational institutions in order to have an integrated education which will

eliminate prejudices that are being created in the education, better integration

and cohesion in Republic of Macedonia” – said the Deputy Prime Minister of the

Government of Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Abdullaqim Ademi.

At the end of the oficial ceremony, the present guests have visited the newly

equipped classroom in the school where the project for integrated and bilingual

teaching will be realized. NDC Skopje and Strumica Municipality believe that the

project will be a successful example in this part of Macedonia and that the

number of students who will participate in this project will increase in the next

years.

Documents

Opening of the Integrated Bilingual Primary School Project in Strumica Municipality