Six new classrooms in Kisela Voda and a workshop for Ilinden's vocational school, but no date for the first lesson

Two municipalities in the Skopje region are building new school space these days. In Kisela Voda, the extension of the "Nevena Georgieva - Dunja" primary school is at an advanced stage: the shell is finished, the installations are in and work has moved to the interior. The new wing is around 560 square metres, with six new classrooms and modern toilets.

In Ilinden, meanwhile, construction has started on an extension to the "Ilinden" vocational secondary school. That one is a new section of around 160 square metres over a ground floor and first floor, with a workshop for practical training, two offices, a utility room and toilets, linked to the existing building by a glazed corridor. Mayor Aleksandar Georgievski says the goal is better hands-on teaching for students and better conditions for teachers.

Kisela Voda mayor Beti Stamenkoska Trajkoska used the site visit to praise cooperation with the central government, since the project is funded with support from the government and the Ministry of Education and Science through the capital investment programme for municipalities. "This project is the finest proof of the results we can achieve when there is a shared vision and strong support from the central government," she said.

Neither municipality said when the new rooms will be full of students, or how much the extensions cost. Six classrooms and a workshop are no small thing for the children who will learn in them. The next site visit could bring the one thing parents most want to hear - the date when lessons in the new rooms actually start.