5.1 ORGANISATION
•1 Geographical Accessibility
Every child has the right to free and quality primary education. Adult persons may also be included in primary education in accordance with Law on Adult Education.
Primary education takes place in primary school that can be some of the following types:
- Primary school,
- primary school for adult education,
- primary music school,
- primary ballet school,
- primary school with resource center and
- International Primary School.
The primary school may be municipal or state. Primary schools for adults, primary school with resource center and International Primary School are established by the Government. Primary music schools and primary ballet schools are not compulsory, but the admission and curricula are approved by the Minister of Education.
Primary schools established by the municipality are obliged to accept all students on school age to enroll it. In some municipalities there are satellite schools or branch units of the primary schools for students living in villages and mostly excluded rural areas.
Primary education can be organized in detention institutions, hospitals and/or home schooling can be organized for students that have chronic illness and longer period of absence from school.
The parent or guardian has the right to enroll the child in the primary school in the area in which he lives or where he resides permanently. The primary school is obliged to include the students from its region. The parent or the guardian may enroll the child in another primary school if there are free places to enroll or if the student is from another region or the municipality has no opportunity to organize instruction in its mother tongue in the municipality.
Schools, together with respective municipalities, organize free transportation for pupils who live more than 2 km away from the school. Schools also organize before and after class care for students in classes 1 to 5.
•2 Admission Requirements and Choice of School
The enrollment of students in first grade takes place in May. Children aged 6 in the calendar year that are enrolling primary school have the obligation to begin primary education. The parent or guardian are obliged to submit confirmation of the mandatory vaccinations for the child, ophthalmologically and a dental examination, issued by a competent health institution when applying for enrollment. Enrollment of the child in the school is done by a three-member commission composed of pedagogue or psychologist or special educator and rehabilitator and teacher from the grade teachers. The commission is formed by the school principal.
When enrolling a child with disability in first grade, the parent, i.e. the guardian is obliged to submit an opinion / functional profile from the Commission for assessment of children and youth according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). If the commission considers that a student has some developmental disability, and the parent or guardian didn’t submit an opinion / functional profile from the expert assessment body, it is recommended that in the best interest of the student is to refer the Commission for assessment of children and youth according to the ICF in order to determine the measures needed to support student’s learning.
The school has an obligation to post a list of the enrolled first-graders on the bulletin board of the school, by June 15 at the latest.
Enrollment of children who are not included in the educational process, but are of older age can also be enrolled after assessment is carried out by a commission established by the school principal. The commission is made up of a pedagogue or psychologist and two grade teachers.
The parent or guardian has the right to enroll the child in the primary school in the area in which he lives or where he resides permanently. The primary school is obliged to include the students from its region. The parent or the guardian may enroll the child in another primary school if there are free places to enroll or if the student is from another region or the municipality has no opportunity to organize instruction in its mother tongue in the municipality.
Schools, together with respective municipalities, organize free transportation for pupils who live more than 2 km away from the school. Schools also organize before and after class care for students in grades 1 to 5.
•3 Age Levels and Grouping of Pupils
The basic school comprises three educational cycles: first to third grade, fourth to sixth grade and seventh to ninth grade, each three years long.
Children of the same age are grouped in grades. Students of the same grade are grouped in classes. In satellite schools or branch units there are combined multi-grade classes that are organized for students of two or three grades as specified by the relevant rules on norms for implementing the basic school program.
According to law no more than 30 students should comprise one class. There might be classes with lower than 20 students if they receive necessary approval from the founder. The combined classes can have up to 10 students in total.
In the first three-year educational cycle, children are taught by teachers for primary education. It is recommended that the same teacher teaches the class for all three years. In addition, there is subject teacher teaching English language and teacher for sports/physical education. In the second educational cycle, from 4th to 5th grade the primary teacher delivers most lessons, but individual subjects are gradually taken over by subject teachers in science. In the third educational period, lessons are delivered by subject teachers.
With the newly adopted Law on primary education in 2019 children with disabilities should be included in regular primary schools. To support learning for students with disabilities, primary school provides some of the following forms of support, or a combination of several: educational assistant, personal assistant, appropriate expert support from the resource center/resource school, inclusive team and assistive technology as recommended in the expert assessment body and in accordance with the individual educational plan or modified learning program. Modified curriculum, designed for students with complex needs, is prepared for each educational period of primary education and it determines learning outcomes based on the competencies they need to gain and develop independence, personal development and social relationships. Programs are being developed for certain categories of students with disabilities acquiring specific skills such as mobility and orientation in space, learning the Braille alphabet, speech development, the use of assistive communication technology and other.
•4 Organisation of the school year
The school year starts at September 1st and ends on 31st August the following year. Teaching is carried out in 180 working days and it ends on 10th June. Teaching is organized in two half-year periods and there are 2 school breaks: winter and summer. The organization and the work of the primary schools are annually regulated by the school calendar that is announced by the Minister of education.
The primary school prepares a Developmental Program that plans the goals and the vision for the development of the school in the four-year period, with the school's activities specifically stated in accordance with strategic and concept papers and expert documents and guidelines set out by competent institutions. Based on the Developmental Program, the school prepares the annual program for primary school work for every school year. The annual work program plans the teaching in accordance with the curriculum, expanded curriculum and other school-based educational work. The annual work program also plans the teaching in several areas: promotion of students' well-being, protection from violence, abuse and neglect, prevention of discrimination, professional orientation of students, interethnic integration and joint student initiatives, inclusive practices, cooperation with parents or guardians, activities for environmental protection, cultural activities of the school and all other activities according to the school's priorities. The form and the content of the developmental and annual work program is determined by the Minister, on a proposal from the Bureau for Development of Education.
•5 Organisation of the School Day and Week
The classes in primary schools are held from Monday to Friday, with different time-schedule in different schools depending on the conditions (number of classrooms, teaching aids, but mostly number of students): some schools work in one shift, but there are many schools working in two shifts: morning and afternoon with division of students by grades, and/or by language of instruction.
One school hour lasts 40 minutes, with breaks between lessons of 5 min. and one bigger break of 15 min.
For students in 1st till 5th grade, there is an extended stay for where they have organized activities with classroom teachers, pedagogues or teachers.