Macedonian high school students protest over testing requirement

Less than a month after the Macedonian government scrapped new university exam rules under student pressure, high school students took to the streets to demand an end to pre-graduation testing requirements.

The citizen media site Global Voices reports that hundreds of high school students demonstrated in Skopje, calling for changes to testing requirements aimed at evaluating graduating students’ knowledge. Critics say the exams fall short of an objective assessment of what pupils have learned.

Similar demonstrations organized by a group called the High School Plenum were reported in towns across Macedonia on 19 March.

According to a Balkan Insight correspondent in Skopje, student organizer Evgenija Janakievska declared at the rally, “You have tried to shape us into apathetic adolescents that will form part of the wider lethargy in society. You directly attacked one of our rights, the right of free choice. You tried to make us servile conformists who will applaud your hypocrisy.”

The government agreed in February to abandon a new law that had mandated externally supervised exams for university students. Boycotting students argued that the law undermined the autonomy of educational institutions.

This article was originally published by Transitions Online.

 

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