Around 250 children with disabilities, most of them first-graders, started the new school year without a teaching assistant. That is the claim of the opposition SDSM. The ministry of education and science answers that the claim is inaccurate and hypocritical, and states that 1,358 teaching assistants are currently engaged in primary and 166 in secondary education - 1,524 in total, the highest number so far.

Both sides are quoting real numbers. The problem is that they are talking about different things, and it is precisely in that gap that the children are sitting.

What the opposition says

Jovanče Manaskov of the SDSM education committee said at a press conference: "Around 250 children, most of them first-graders, are without the teaching assistants they need on 1 September. For them and for their parents, the first day of school was not a day of joy, but a day of fear, disappointment and uncertainty."

He also asked the most concrete question in the whole debate: schools submitted the requests for teaching assistance for first-graders by 30 June, once enrolment had closed. What did the ministry do with those requests in the two months that followed? And he added the arithmetic - if the hiring procedure takes more than 20 days, some of these children would realistically only get an assistant after 20 September.

What the ministry says

The ministry turns the lens backwards: "Four ministers in the government led by SDSM for seven years failed to secure teaching assistants for all pupils with disabilities." In 2024, according to the response, the last SDSM minister secured 800 teaching assistants, and only in primary education, while in secondary schools no specialist staff were engaged at all.

The ministry also states that a procedure is under way to engage an additional number of specialists in line with the needs reported by parents, that specialist services in schools are being strengthened, that ramps and accessible toilets are being installed, and that continuity of teaching has been introduced through online classes for pupils in longer hospital or home treatment. From the new academic year, scholarships for students with disabilities and rare diseases are also being introduced.

The two numbers are not in conflict

1,524 assistants today against 800 in 2024 is real growth and should not be minimised. But growth in the total number and the answer to the question "does this particular child in this particular classroom have an assistant on 1 September" are two different measures. One gets announced at a press conference. The other is lived by a parent walking a child to school.

Neither side claims that every child has an assistant. The ministry says the procedure is under way - which is an admission that there are children waiting. The whole question comes down to how many there are and how long they will wait.

That is a number neither statement gives. The parents know it by heart.