Abstract
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.
1. Introduction
The Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in September 1991 following a national referendum. Two months later, in November, the country adopted its new constitution. According to Article 7 of the Constitution, the Macedonian language and Cyrillic alphabet were declared official. The Preamble stated that “Macedonia is established as a national state of the Macedonian people, in which full equality as citizens and permanent coexistence with the Macedonian people is provided for Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Roma, and other nationalities living in the Republic of Macedonia” (Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, 2025). The mention of the four nationalities can be seen as a continuation and extension of a Yugoslav legal tradition, namely, the fact that Albanians and Turks were mentioned in the Preamble to the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (Služben vesnik na Socijalistička Republika Makedonija, 1974, p. 105).
Linguistic minorities and their rights have always been a sensitive issue in independent Macedonia. In 2001, following an insurgency led by the Albanian National Liberation Army, the Ohrid Agreement was signed, and several amendments to the Constitution were adopted. Amendment IV added two more nationalities, Serbians and Bosnians, to the Preamble. According to Amendment V, any language other than Macedonian spoken by at least 20 percent of the population is also an official language. The latter amendment led to the adoption of the Law on the Use of Languages in 2019. Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Law states that Albanian is also an official language of the country (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2019a, p. 11). Less than a month later, on 12 February 2019, the Prespa Agreement between Macedonia and Greece came into force, and the former nation officially changed its name to North Macedonia. The decision was met with considerable criticism, and the country is still often referred to as Macedonia by its citizens. However, it is due to that agreement that the naming dispute came to an end, and North Macedonia became a member of NATO.
In recent years, the availability of textbooks has been a concern for many journalists (Perspektiva Plus, 2023; Halili, 2024) and government officials (Blagojevikj et al., 2023). However, it has not been a subject of more thorough scientific research yet. In this article, following the theoretical framework by Spasov and Arizanovska (2003), I will demonstrate that students who do not study in Macedonian have access to fewer digital resources and that a semi-official hierarchy of languages exists, which encompasses the educational system of North Macedonia. To implement this, I compiled a catalog of electronic textbooks in various languages. The books are listed and available for download on the E-učebnici web platform run by the Ministry of Education and Science. The catalog is created in Excel format, and this article primarily contains cumulative data from it. In addition, legislative acts and practical issues relevant to education in and teaching of the official and minority languages of North Macedonia have been analyzed.
Language textbooks are a legitimate, widely used, and consistently relevant subject of research (e.g., Guerrettaz et al., 2022; Huang, 2019; O’Keeffe, 2013; Pingel, 2010). Their digitization, accessibility, and user appropriateness have become a common and acceptable form of academic publication (Canale, 2021; Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2018). Comparing textbooks for the speakers of minority languages is important for research purposes, as such materials often serve as models for developing other teaching resources, even though they frequently face no competition and therefore should be compared with one another (Behnke, 2018; Guo et al., 2021). In the context of promoting multilingualism, it is particularly important to consider how language-learning materials relate to each other both theoretically and practically. The learners’ needs have been documented in the author’s other studies (Falaleev, 2024).
The research questions are as follows: To what extent do students who study in languages other than Macedonian have equal access to digital (electronic) textbooks in North Macedonia? Does a hierarchy of languages exist within North Macedonia’s educational system, as reflected in the related legislation?
Since most textbooks in languages other than Macedonian represent translations from Macedonian, the content of the books is the same. The major exceptions are the textbooks of the official and minority languages of the country. My analysis focuses on the availability of textbooks on various subjects and, therefore, is quantitative. For an extensive qualitative analysis of the textbooks in the light of multiculturality and interculturality, see Emin’s (2017) and Miovska-Spaseva and Achkovska-Leshkovska’s (2020) research.
Also note that although the Law on Textbooks in Primary and Secondary Education differentiates between electronic and digital textbooks, in this article, the terms are used interchangeably to mean “textbooks in electronic form identical to printed textbooks”.
2. Linguistic Groups of North Macedonia and Their Educational Rights
According to the most recent census conducted in 2021 (Državen zavod za statistika, 2022, p. 1), the population of North Macedonia had the following mother tongues (see Table 1):
Table 1.
Population of North Macedonia by mother tongue, 2021.
As stated in the introduction, both Macedonian and Albanian are the official languages of the country. However, according to Paragraph 4 of Article 1 of the Law on the Use of Languages, municipalities can adopt additional official languages if those languages are spoken by at least 20 percent of the municipality’s population. Due to that provision and provisions of the preceding law (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2008b, p. 2), all of the above-listed minority languages have become co-official in at least one municipality of North Macedonia. In some cases, the number of respective native speakers was below the 20 percent required by the law (Bliznakovski, 2014, pp. 25–26), the lowest percentage being 4.03% for Roma speakers in Kumanovo. According to the 2021 census, that percentage has declined even more to 2.71% (Makstat, 2021). As of January 2019 (Sobranie na Republika Makedonija, 2019, pp. 13–14), i.e., by the time Albanian had been proclaimed the second official language nationwide, the scale of minority languages use at the level of municipalities was as follows (see Table 2):
Table 2.
Municipalities by co-official language(s), January 2019.
In 1997, Macedonia ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which entered into force on 1 February 1998 (Council of Europe, 2025a). According to Article 12 of the Convention, the Parties shall implement measures in education to promote knowledge of minority languages and provide access to textbooks (Council of Europe, 1995, p. 5). In 2004, the term ‘national minorities’ from the Convention began to be applied to Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Serbians, Roma, and Bosnians. In the previous two declarations on the Convention, Bosnians did not represent a national minority (Council of Europe, 2025b).
At the national level, the right to primary and secondary school instruction in minority languages is secured in Article 48 of the Constitution of North Macedonia. Additionally, it is stated that the Macedonian language shall be studied in schools that provide instruction in minority languages. In 2008, the Parliament of Macedonia passed the Law on Textbooks for Primary and Secondary Education (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2008a). Article 6 of the Law states that textbooks for students in primary and secondary schools are free of charge. According to Article 20, the Ministry of Education and Science is obliged to translate books from Macedonian into minority languages. Article 16 contains a list of the six national minorities of Macedonia (Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Serbians, Roma, and Bosnians). The first of the abovementioned provisions can be found in Articles 6 and 17 of the new Law on Textbooks in Primary and Secondary Education, which came into force in early 2025 (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2025). National minorities are mentioned in connection with the teaching of their language and culture in Articles 10 and 15. The list now includes Serbians, Bosnians, Vlachs, Turks, and Roma. Albanians have been excluded from the list because the Albanian language became co-official in 2019. Interestingly, neither Albanians nor the Albanian language is mentioned a single time in the new law. Both laws envisage the use of textbooks in digital form. However, the new law also states that the Ministry of Education and Science shall place such textbooks on a digital platform (Paragraph 5 of Article 2).
The Law on Primary Education (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2019b, p. 2) lists principles on which primary education is based. The principles include “promotion of similarities and acceptance of differences, interculturality, multiculturalism, interculturalism, and multiculturalism” among others. Interculturalism is further defined by the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2021, p. 6) as “direct or mediated interaction of two or more different cultural groups of any size, at any level of their communication and mutual influence”. It is also stated that the term has emerged as a response to criticism of multiculturalism, which focuses on mere diversity rather than interaction between groups.
3. Languages in Primary and Secondary School
Both primary and secondary education are mandatory in North Macedonia. Primary education lasts nine years (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 2019b, p. 3). According to the primary education curriculum, classes can theoretically be conducted entirely in five languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, or Bosnian. Students who do not attend classes in Macedonian must learn it as a second language starting from the fourth grade. Additionally, beginning in the third grade, students from national minorities can choose to study the language and culture of Roma, Vlachs, Bosnians, Turks, or Serbians. If the municipality where the school is located has a co-official language, that language can be studied by all students starting from the fourth grade. Albanian can be selected as an elective subject from the sixth grade. All these subjects are taught twice a week, totaling 72 h per academic year, except for the language and culture of national minorities in the third grade, which is taught once a week for 36 h per academic year (Biro za razvoj na obrazovanie i nauka, 2021, p. 47).
Instruction in a given primary school can be implemented in one official language (Macedonian or Albanian), in two official languages (Petroska-Beška et al., 2023, p. 15), in the Turkish language (Opštinsko osnovno učilište Goce Delčev, 2025), as well as in one or two official languages and one minority language. In practice, instruction in minority languages and teaching thereof is conducted in only a few primary schools (see Table 3):
Table 3.
Instruction in and teaching of minority languages in primary schools (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 15).
Additionally, there is a primary school for children with hearing, speech, and voice impairments, as well as other developmental problems, where instruction is conducted in Macedonian sign language (Osnovno učilište so resursen centar Kočo Racin, 2025).
Secondary education is divided (Služben vesnik na Republika Makedonija, 1995, p. 1139) into gymnasium education, vocational education, art education, and education for students with special educational needs, which is not covered by the present research. Vocational schools can last from two to four years, while all other types of secondary schools last four years (Biro za razvoj na obrazovanie, 2025). Instruction can be conducted in four languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, and, most recently, Serbian. Turkish is the language of instruction in 15 schools across nine municipalities (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 15). Secondary education in Serbian is currently offered (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2024) by one gymnasium and one vocational school for one profession (pharmaceutical technician). There was no new student recruitment for this (or any other) specialty in Serbian in 2025 (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2025). Instruction in secondary schools is not conducted in Bosnian, Vlach, or Roma. Curricula for art schools include no options for studying native languages other than Macedonian (Biro za razvoj na obrazovanie, 2025). However, Albanian-language programs for certain art-related professions exist (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2024, p. 38). There is at least one private gymnasium where English is the primary language of instruction (Yahya Kemal College, 2025).
School teachers and parents of students highlight different issues regarding the use of minority languages in primary and secondary education. According to teachers, the main problem is the lack of interest in minority languages and cultures among parents. Conversely, parents believe that the most significant issues are the unpreparedness and lack of transparency in schools, as well as the shortage of qualified teachers. Additionally, Roma mention that discrimination against their community is why they prefer their children to be instructed only in Macedonian. Representatives of the Turkish community state that it is often impossible to receive instruction in Turkish after fifth grade (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 21). After that, students either continue studying in a different language or start attending a different school that offers instruction in Turkish (Spasovski, 2020, pp. 5–6).
The lack of textbooks in all languages is a major challenge for students and their parents across all linguistic communities. In recent years, the unavailability of physical textbooks has become a critical issue in primary schools (Makfaks, 2022; Slobodna Evropa, 2023; Halili, 2024) and vocational schools (Perspektiva Plus, 2023). Additionally, some students and parents have raised concerns about the need to print digital textbooks at their own expense (Perspektiva Plus, 2023). The issue of digital textbook unavailability affects gymnasium students because, as I will show in the next chapter, these textbooks are not available for download on the platform managed by the Ministry of Education and Science. Within communities of linguistic minorities, many parents have noticed the problem of textbook unavailability (Blagojevikj et al., 2023). Exact numbers are not provided here because the questionnaire completed by students’ parents included options “Lack of textbooks in our language” and “Several of the abovementioned aspects” as possible obstacles in the teaching of minority languages. It is not indicated how often the former answer was included in the latter.
4. Digital Textbooks in Official and Minority Languages
The Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia has developed a web platform called E-učebnici, where textbooks for primary and secondary school are available for free download. I have analyzed the list of books available on the platform, both those that are and those that are not downloadable, from the perspective of students receiving instruction in different languages, and compared the results. The data for primary education as of June 2025 is represented in Table 4. Note that several books or book editions can be used for some subjects in a given school grade across the country.
Table 4.
Availability of digital textbooks by students’ language of instruction for compulsory subjects in primary school.
The subjects with unavailable digital textbooks throughout nine years of primary school are foreign languages (both English and a second foreign language) and Macedonian as a second language. Starting from the fifth grade, at least half of the textbooks are unavailable for non-Macedonian-speaking students, and from the sixth grade, for Macedonian-speaking students. Bosnian-speaking students cannot download a single book starting from the seventh year. Usually, if a textbook exists in Macedonian, it is translated into all other languages of instruction. Exceptions are the Bosnian books for eighth and ninth grade, as well as the Serbian geography textbook for ninth grade. The former are not even listed on the platform, although primary schools offering instruction in Bosnian until the ninth grade exist (Opštinsko osnovno učilište Rajko Žinzifov, 2024).
The picture is different for elective subjects, i.e., the language and culture of minorities and the Albanian language (see Table 5). Here, the languages are divided into two groups. The first group includes Bosnian and Vlach, for which almost all textbooks are available. The second group comprises all other languages with no textbooks accessible on the platform.
Table 5.
Availability of textbooks for elective subjects (language and culture of minorities and the Albanian language) in primary school.
In case a book is not available for download but is listed on the platform, it is usually indicated that “the competition is ongoing,” meaning the book has not been published yet. However, it is unclear what this phrase signifies in the context of Albanian textbooks for fourth and fifth grades, since, according to the curriculum, language studies start only in sixth grade. For the Roma language and culture, textbooks are available from third to fifth grade (Miovska-Spaseva & Achkovska-Leshkovska, 2020, p. 131), but for unknown reasons, they do not appear on the platform.
In gymnasium education, only four books in Macedonian, one in Albanian, and one in Turkish are available for download. The situation is complicated because the publishing rights belong to printing houses, and the Ministry of Education and Science is unable to upload them to the platform (E-učebnici, 2025). Textbooks in Serbian are currently unavailable on the platform.
The results for vocational education are as follows (see Table 6):
Table 6.
Availability of digital textbooks by students’ language of instruction in vocational schools.
There are several reasons why textbooks are unavailable in languages other than Macedonian. The first is the potential lack of instruction in Albanian and Turkish for certain professions. Another reason is that some books or their certain editions have not been translated into these two languages. More thorough research is needed on this issue. In any case, the options for study among Albanian-speaking students are more limited than those for native Macedonian speakers. Turkish speakers have even fewer opportunities to study in vocational schools that use books in their language. Not a single textbook for vocational schools in Serbian is currently available in digital form.
To demonstrate directions for further research, I will provide some more detailed examples. Textbooks for all graphics-related careers (four professions offered by seven schools in six municipalities) are available only in Macedonian. Graphic technicians can be instructed in Albanian (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2023, p. 16) and graphic designers in Turkish (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2024, p. 14), but only occasionally, since both opportunities are lacking in the 2025 curriculum. Study programs for all forestry-related professions (six professions in five schools of five municipalities) are available only in Macedonian (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2025); therefore, respective textbooks in Albanian and Turkish do not exist. The data (Ministerstvo za obrazovanie i nauka, 2025) for careers in personal services is represented in Table 7.
Table 7.
Availability of vocational degrees in personal services and relevant textbooks by language of instruction.
In comparison with speakers of Macedonian, Albanian-speaking students have twice as few schools to choose from. However, they can still receive instruction for all professions in the field. The number of downloadable digital textbooks is only slightly lower than for speakers of Macedonian. Students receiving instruction in Turkish can attain a vocational degree only in two professions at two schools. They almost lack the opportunity to download textbooks in their mother tongue.
5. Hierarchy of Languages in the Educational System of North Macedonia
Ljudmil Spasov and Lidija Arizankovska have addressed the issue of language hierarchy in Yugoslavia and (North) Macedonia. They divide languages into three groups (Spasov & Arizanovska, 2003, p. 161). The state language is positioned at the highest level. Regional languages in the territories where most people do not speak the state language occupy the intermediate level. All other languages are situated at the lowest level.
Assume we follow that framework and lower the criterion for inclusion to the second group from a majority to 20% as envisaged by Macedonian law. It can be argued that, formally, none of the languages investigated in the article belongs to the third group nationwide because all of them are co-official in at least one municipality of the country. Strictly speaking, Macedonian and Albanian belong to the first group, whereas Turkish, Serbian, Bosnian, Vlach, and Roma belong to the second group. However, minority languages belong to the third group in those parts of the country where they are not co-official. At the same time, the use of languages in education demonstrates a more nuanced hierarchy.
Macedonian is the first official language of the country. Instruction in Macedonian is implemented at all levels of education, and students have access to the widest selection of digital textbooks.
Albanian is the second official language of North Macedonia. Albanian-speaking students can receive instruction in their language at all levels of education, although their selection of study programs and digital textbooks is not as wide as for Macedonian.
Instruction in Turkish can be received in primary and secondary school, although some primary schools offer programs in the language only until the fifth grade. The selection of study programs and the availability of textbooks are limited.
Serbian-speaking students can only receive education in their language at a few primary schools. Serbian-language programs for secondary schools have only recently been introduced, following recommendations by the Ministry of Education and Science (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 94), and are therefore very limited. Not a single digital textbook is available for gymnasiums or vocational schools.
Instruction in Bosnian is implemented only in a few primary schools. Students do not have access to digital textbooks starting from the seventh grade. To overcome the problem, Serbian books are used instead (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 33).
The Vlach language and culture can be studied as an elective subject in primary school. Almost all textbooks are available for free download.
Roma-speaking students can study their language and culture only as an elective subject from the third grade in primary school. However, textbooks are unavailable in digital form until the fifth grade and do not seem to exist in any form afterwards (Blagojevikj et al., 2023, p. 11). Moreover, the subject is rarely selected by students due to discrimination against their community.
6. Discussion
International experience shows that different educational systems around the world have tried various measures to address the diversity of their students, ranging from exclusionary, segregationist, or assimilationist schools to multicultural schools, and ultimately, to intercultural schools (Jiménez, 2014, pp. 412–419). Interculturality has been considered the most appropriate for addressing the diversity that characterizes today’s world (Aguado Odina, 2011, pp. 24–25), while intercultural activities in education have proved their effectiveness in various countries around the globe (Stefoni et al., 2017). Before the introduction of interculturality to the Law on Primary Education of North Macedonia in 2019, the amount of content demonstrating interaction between representatives of different linguistic communities in primary school textbooks was scarce (Emin, 2017, pp. 135–136). Therefore, qualitative research on whether the content of the textbooks has changed since then can give a broader perspective on the role of interculturality in education in overcoming discrimination and prejudice against minority communities in primary education. As stated above, quantitative (and qualitative) research on programs for vocational schools in different languages can shed light on the problem of inequality in secondary schools.
Although it is impossible to create a fully equal society, one can minimize the impact of discrimination by understanding its nature. Mehmedbegovic (2017, p. 541) outlines the four main processes that determine the place of a language in the hierarchy, with institutionalized discrimination of languages being one of them. She proposes overcoming the processes that result in a language hierarchy by “developing bilingual skills which are of equal value regardless of the combination of languages” (Mehmedbegovic, 2017, p. 547). Whether this approach can be implemented in North Macedonia remains an open question. Recent positive experiences in the use of a bilingual Serbian-Hungarian digital platform (Relić, 2023) and various media resources (Milenković, 2023) for educational purposes in neighboring Serbia (another post-Yugoslav country with similar legislation) and Romania (Banaduc, 2023) give optimism in that respect.
7. Limitations of the Study and Perspectives for Further Research
As stated in the introduction, the principal limitation of the research lies in its quantitative nature. It investigates the availability of textbooks in different languages for primary and secondary school, but does not analyze the content of the didactic materials. Textbooks used in higher education have also not been covered in the article; therefore, their quantitative and qualitative analysis can provide a direction for future research.
Although qualitative research of textbooks for primary school has been conducted (Emin, 2017; Miovska-Spaseva & Achkovska-Leshkovska, 2020), both works were published before the introduction of the new Law on Textbooks in Primary and Secondary Education in 2025, whereas the former appeared before the introduction of interculturality to the Law on Primary Education in 2019. Hence, a repeated qualitative analysis of textbooks in primary education is needed, considering the new legislation. It would demonstrate possible novelties in the light of multiculturality and interculturality.
Another possible direction for further research is a qualitative analysis of textbooks in secondary education (both for gymnasiums and vocational schools), similar to the aforementioned qualitative research of textbooks in primary education. Such work would shed light on whether and to what extent the principle of interculturality is maintained further in secondary school. The research would be more challenging due to the unavailability of most textbooks used in gymnasiums in digital format, as well as the large quantity of books used in vocational schools.
Finally, a simpler quantitative analysis of textbooks by specific professions in vocational education is also necessary. An exemplary stub of the analysis for professions in three fields (graphics, forestry, and personal services) is found at the end of Section 4. Such a study would demonstrate not only the availability of textbooks by language and profession, but it would also provide information on professional opportunities by region.
8. Conclusions
The Preamble to the Constitution of North Macedonia explicitly names seven nationalities living in the state. The languages of these nationalities are in a semi-official hierarchy that influences the country’s educational system. Opportunities range from extensive, covering all education levels for Macedonian speakers, to very limited for Roma speakers. The availability of digital (and physical) textbooks follows this hierarchy. While Macedonian speakers have the broadest selection of available educational materials, Roma have no access to digital books and limited access to their physical counterparts. Although some progress has been made in addressing inequality, such as the introduction of new programs in Serbian for secondary schools, several critical issues remain in the educational system, with textbook availability being just one of them. Overcoming the factors contributing to the discrimination of linguistic minorities is going to be a challenge for North Macedonia in the upcoming years. Fortunately, the international experience in using digital and media resources in education encourages optimism.
One can argue that the set of languages in secondary education until very recently followed the tradition set by the Preamble to the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, which acknowledged that Macedonia is the state of the Macedonian people, as well as that of the Albanian and Turkish nationalities living within it. Therefore, instruction in secondary schools was first provided only in these three languages. The situation changed only recently, after the launch of Serbian-language programs in one gymnasium and one vocational school. The set of languages in primary education was determined by the 1991 Constitution of the independent Macedonia. First, it was expanded with Vlach and Roma. Later, following the ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the political turbulence of 2001, Serbian and Bosnian were also added.
The findings clearly demonstrate unequal access to digital textbooks across linguistic groups in North Macedonia, confirming the existence of a semi-official hierarchy of languages within the educational system. While Macedonian-speaking students have the broadest access to electronic resources at all levels of education, non-Macedonian-speaking students encounter significant limitations, particularly from the fifth grade onward. The situation is especially unfavorable for Bosnian and Serbian speakers, who lack digital textbooks for several grades or subjects, and for Turkish speakers, whose access is restricted even further in vocational education. The Albanian language, despite its co-official status, occupies an intermediate position: although instruction in Albanian is possible at all levels, the range of available digital textbooks and study programs remains narrower than for Macedonian. Moreover, the absence or incomplete availability of textbooks for elective subjects such as minority languages and cultures, particularly Roma, reflects structural marginalization within the educational framework. These disparities suggest that language policy in education continues to privilege Macedonian, followed by Albanian, while other minority languages remain peripheral both institutionally and technologically. Thus, the analysis answers the research questions by showing that students studying in languages other than Macedonian have unequal access to digital educational materials and that a de facto linguistic hierarchy persists despite the formal recognition of multilingualism in national legislation.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The raw data presented in this study are available in the public domain at the E-učebnici website at https://www.e-ucebnici.mon.gov.mk (accessed on 10 December 2025). The complete set of analyzed data is available on request from the author.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
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