Primary and Secondary School Textbooks in Official and Minority Languages in North Macedonia: Challenges of the Digital Era

The article discusses the challenges faced by primary and secondary school students in North Macedonia, focusing on the availability of textbooks for those receiving instruction in minority languages. Although some materials are available for download on the E-učebnici platform operated by the Ministry of Education and Science, this does not encompass all didactic resources required for instruction. Cataloging of the materials on the platform reveals that while electronic versions of many textbooks in Macedonian are freely accessible, students studying in Albanian (a co-official language) and minority languages such as Turkish, Bosnian, and Serbian have considerably fewer digital resources. The data indicate that disparities begin from the fifth grade and widen in higher grades, with Bosnian- and Serbian-speaking students particularly disadvantaged. In vocational education, Macedonian-speaking students have the broadest access to electronic materials, while Albanian and especially Turkish speakers have far fewer options, and no digital textbooks are available in Serbian. The analysis demonstrates that a semi-official hierarchy of languages persists within North Macedonia’s educational system, privileging Macedonian and, to a lesser extent, Albanian, while marginalizing other minority languages both institutionally and technologically. The article concludes by outlining the challenges and implications of implementing digital resources as a means to address linguistic inequality in education.