After a 26-year break, secondary police education in Macedonia is coming back. The Interior Ministry has issued a public call to enroll 200 regular students in the „7th of May" Secondary Police School, which operates within the Police Academy. Eligible to apply are students who have completed their second year of secondary school and meet the conditions.

The requirements aren't symbolic. Candidates must be citizens of Macedonia, must not have turned 18 on the day of publication, must actively use the Macedonian language, and must be medically and psychophysically fit. Also required is at least a „good" grade average in the first two years, with no disciplinary measures on record. Selection runs in three stages - a physical fitness check, a written test with 40 questions, and an interview.

The application window is 15 days, and for admitted students the Ministry provides dormitory housing, meals, and work clothing. At first glance - good news. The state is investing in personnel that has been missing for years, instead of waiting for police officers to be produced only through short-term adult training courses.

But bringing back a school after nearly three decades carries a quiet question: what was going on all those years? If secondary police education was important enough to return today, why was it unimportant enough to be scrapped and left dormant for so long? Decisions inside our institutions often move in circles - something gets abolished, decades pass, and then the same thing is declared a reform. It's good that the school is coming back. It would be even better if the next generation didn't have to rediscover what already existed.