Starting next Saturday, June 6, at 9 a.m., the state matura begins for 14,587 high school students. The figure is split across three exam types - state matura (12,184), state vocational matura (2,276) and state arts matura (127). These are the new numbers at the end of one cycle of education.

The most widespread foreign language is English with 13,208 registrations - almost every graduate. Macedonian as a mother tongue is carried by 9,810, Albanian by 4,199, Turkish by 360, and five people - literally five people - by Serbian. Those five are an entire statistical story on their own about how generations are shifting in this country.

The schedule: June 6 - elective external subject (foreign language, mathematics or history). June 11 - mother tongue and literature for the state matura. June 12 - mother tongue for the vocational and arts tracks. Around 2,500 examiners and 200 supervisors are deployed. Mobile phones and electronics are banned from the exam rooms.

The third exam type is new this year. Does it solve anything about the quality of education? No. It solves the split of the path after matura - vocational, academic, arts. But the real question every graduate is actually asking isn't "what test am I taking," it's "what comes after." And on that question - the system has offered no clear strategy this year, nor last, nor any of the last ten years.