The Municipality of Kratovo has decided to do what other municipalities skip - pay its own students to stay. The council, on a proposal from mayor Todorche Nikolovski, unanimously adopted financial measures: a one-off 9,000 denars for every student enrolling in the first year of secondary school in the town.

On top of that, for those who choose the hospitality-tourism track (hotel and restaurant technician with an expanded practical curriculum) - an extra 3,000 denars. Students in the dual education system also receive a monthly stipend of 3,500 denars, provided by the government and the Ministry of Education, for nine months.

The figure of 9,000 denars is not big - it is around 145 euros. But the point is not the amount. The point is the signal. Local authorities have finally understood what demographic statistics have been telling them for decades: small Macedonian towns lose their young to Skopje and abroad, and that loss starts precisely with secondary school. When a student from Kratovo enrolls in a high school in Kumanovo or Skopje, they most likely never come back.

The question now is whether 9,000 denars is enough to change that. Kratovo has one high school, SOU "Mitko Pendzhukliski." Another question is how many parents will keep their children at home just for a one-off cash sum - which they can spend once on school supplies and winter clothes, and after that they are back to zero.

But Kratovo has at least tried. That is more than most municipalities in the country do, whose only policy for the young is - to let them leave wherever they want, while the municipality keeps running events and projects for those who stay. What happens with enrolment next year will show whether the measure works. And whether it will be picked up by other towns that ship their children off to Skopje every year as the only option.