{"id":11499,"date":"2026-09-21T11:49:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mollekuqja.mk\/?p=11499"},"modified":"2026-09-21T13:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T13:13:35","slug":"janevska-e-terhoqi-lenden-e-edukimit-seksual-ndersa-i-porositi-nxenesit-qe-te-kerkojne-vellezer-dhe-motra-nga-prinderit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mollekuqja.mk\/en\/janevska-e-terhoqi-lenden-e-edukimit-seksual-ndersa-i-porositi-nxenesit-qe-te-kerkojne-vellezer-dhe-motra-nga-prinderit\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts, the bishop or the public: who decides whether children should learn to protect themselves from abuse in North Macedonia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-six girls under the age of 15 have become mothers in the past two years. UNICEF found<\/a> that around 12,000 children were exposed to sexual exploitation and abuse within a single year. Eleven new HIV cases were registered in July alone. All of this in North Macedonia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only did these figures fail to alarm the state institutions; just a few weeks later, those institutions decided to withdraw from schools one of the few institutional tools that could help prevent such harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no comprehensive sexuality education, and there will be none,\u201d said Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska.<\/span><\/p>\n

The subject was withdrawn only a few days after Bishop Jakov called for it in an open letter to Minister Janevska. In a secular state, the minister listened to a cleric with no educational expertise and ignored 11 professional associations that had called, as early as 2022, for the subject to be expanded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>\u201cMinister Janevska, withdraw this programme of ideological indoctrination of our youth, our future for the survival of both the Church and the state,\u201d <\/span>Bishop Jakov said<\/a> in the open letter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The minister also acted against the interests of more than 300 students who had voluntarily chosen to take the subject of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). Moll\u00ebkuqja has learned from conversations on the ground that student interest in the subject had only been growing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She nevertheless appeared somewhat \u201ccontrite\u201d only days after deciding to withdraw the subject without consulting experts. On 17 September, Janevska said<\/a> that she had read the programme herself and saw nothing controversial in it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMorality and ethics do not conflict with the knowledge that children should have for proper development. That is why I asked the Bureau for the Development of Education to withdraw the programme, the one that is contested. I read it myself and I see nothing controversial in it, but I asked the Bureau to carry out a professional review together with experts from Macedonia, to look at the programme once more and give their opinion, so that we can bring the programme back,\u201d Janevska said during a guest appearance on the MRT 1 evening news.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts tell Moll\u00ebkuqja: from bad to worse<\/b><\/h4>\n

Blerina Qamili<\/strong> is a doctor. She stressed that state institutions in North Macedonia are still reluctant to speak openly about comprehensive sexuality education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Blerina
Blerina Qamili, foto nga arkivi i saj privat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Qamili added that the country does not give sexuality education the importance it requires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the education system, there is no structured and sustainable sexuality education programme. Topics related to sexual health are mentioned only superficially or in theoretical terms, without practical information and without space for questions. This leaves young people to inform themselves from unreliable sources or from their peers, which increases misinformation and health risks,\u201d said the physician Blerina Qamili.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheruze Osmani Ballazhi<\/strong> is a psychologist and lecturer at the University of Tetovo. She told a Moll\u00ebkuqja journalist that the decision to discontinue comprehensive sexuality education could affect the psychological development of young people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sheruze
Sheruze Osmani Ballazhi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Osmani Ballazhi added that the absence of the knowledge this subject provides \u2013 such as the changes that occur during puberty, the media\u2019s influence in shaping false ideals of physical appearance, the consequences of early sexual activity and more \u2013 leaves children unprotected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of this knowledge leads to confusion, anxiety, shame and low self-esteem. Moreover, the lack of sexuality education leads to difficulties in building healthy interpersonal relationships, because young people do not develop the skills to communicate their feelings, set personal boundaries and recognise abusive relationships,\u201d said psychologist Sheruze Osmani Ballazhi.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to psychologist Sheruze Osmani Ballazhi, data from the 2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study show that 30% of 15-year-olds in North Macedonia are sexually active, which is higher than in Denmark (22%) and Germany (19%).<\/span><\/p>\n

Civil society organisations: Janevska removed the only systemic tool for prevention<\/b><\/h4>\n

HERA<\/strong> The Health Education and Research Association (HERA) was among the most vocal<\/a> organisations opposing the decision to remove comprehensive sexuality education from school curricula. Only a few hours after Minister Janevska\u2019s decision, it released alarming statistics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is something we should fear, it is not CSE, but the increasingly frequent cases of harassment, sexual violence, maltreatment and rape among young people, committed by minors, both in schools and in public spaces. We should be alarmed that as many as 10% of children aged 12 to 17 in North Macedonia, or nearly 12,000 children, were exposed to technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse within the space of just one year,\u201d HERA said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to HERA, the state should not view comprehensive sexuality education as a threat to children but, on the contrary, as a subject that would teach them when and where to set boundaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the reality young people live in, and withdrawing CSE means withdrawing one of the few systemic tools that can help them recognise risk, set boundaries, say \u2018no\u2019, ask for help and protect themselves. CSE is not a threat to children but a systemic response to the threats they already face: sexual and peer violence, blackmail, the sharing of intimate photos without consent, toxic relationships, unplanned pregnancies, HIV prevention and disinformation online,\u201d \u2013 HERA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a reminder, the data show that 8% of children were exposed to sexual images, 5% received unwanted requests for intimate photos or videos, 4% were blackmailed with the threat that their content would be distributed, and 3% had such content shared without their permission.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, in 78% of cases the perpetrator is someone the child knows, while 52% of cases of sexual exploitation occur through social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and WhatsApp. In such a reality, it is shocking that only 19% of the children surveyed said they had received any kind of sexuality education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Data on sexual and reproductive health show that in 2024 alone, 588 children were born to mothers aged 15 to 19, while in just one month 11 new HIV cases were also registered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biology teachers skip lessons about the body<\/b><\/h4>\n

With comprehensive sexuality education withdrawn as a separate elective subject, the only subject in which students can learn the basics about their own bodies is biology. But problems arise here too.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also recall a Moll\u00ebkuqja article<\/a> published in 2022, in which students and former students themselves reported that biology teachers had skipped lessons on human reproduction, often \u201cdue to time constraints\u201d, or had taught them only partially.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, psychologist Vala Adili described this as a problem of the teachers themselves and not of the students: according to her, they \u201cescape their own awkwardness by not covering the topic\u201d. Biology teacher Njomza Shaqiri acknowledged that the phenomenon exists among older generations of teachers, as a result of taboo topics.<\/span><\/p>\n