More than a quarter of a century after the independence of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), fundamental education reform aiming to improve the access of non-majority Communities (Albanians, Turks, Serbs and others) to a better quality of education in their mother tongue has been one of the most controversial topics in the country. In formal legal terms, the constitutional provisions guarantee far-reaching rights for minorities to use their native language in local institutions and to receive primary and secondary education in their mother tongues. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia, however, they lost access to higher education in their mother tongue provided by the universities in other former Yugoslav republics. Regaining these lost rights became a political cause for politicians from the non-majority Communities in FYROM after independence. This has caused some problems. For instance, Albanians account for 25.2 percent of the total population and perceive themselves not as a “national minority” but as a sovereign co-partner deserving equal treatment in the state. Ethnic Macedonians regarded the initiatives taken by ethnic Albanians to open privately sponsored high schools and an attempt to establish an unauthorized university in Tetovo as signs that the predominantly Albanian-inhabited areas intend to secede from the state.
The Ohrid Framework Agreement, which was signed in August 2001 after armed conflicts in the country, put an end to the violence and strengthened the multiethnic character of the state through expanding the rights of non-majority Communities in public life while simultaneously proclaiming the state’s territorial integrity and unitary character. In the implementation process, the national parliament of FYROM legislated for constitutional amendments and adopted numerous laws focused on decentralization issues including decentralizing education which has led to increased local ownership of schools by ethnic communities. In 2002, within the newly elected government coalition, the Ministry of Education was headed by an Albanian for the first time in FYROM and it introduced initial measures to revise the history curricula and textbooks. The government coalition finally came to a compromise over the legalization and state financing of Tetovo University in 2004.
Although on a macro political level interethnic relations are constantly improving as a result of implementing the Ohrid Framework Agreement with extensive assistance from the international community, multi-ethnicity is reflected in the education system in different ways. Ethnic separation in schools and establishing a parallel education system could not bring about greater integration in reality. The ethnic divide generated inequalities in the area of education, especially among smaller children, and the FYROM faced next challenges to build bridges between communities through intercultural activities for enhancing interethnic dialogue and collaboration. This paper analyzes the process of education reforms rooted in the National Programme for Development of Education in the Republic of Macedonia 2005-2015, laws governing the area of education, the nine-year primary education reforms, compulsory secondary education policy, and the impact of higher education reforms for all citizens including non-majority Communities. This paper also discusses increased activities on the part of non-governmental organizations supported by the international community to improve interethnic communities’ relations in ongoing education reforms.

本稿は、JSPS科研費基盤研究（B）「ユーゴ後継諸国の対外政策と国際関係」（課題番号：JP2433057）による研究成果公表の一部である。