BFI reacts to the Constitutional Court's decision to annul the establishment of the "Isa Bey" Madrasah

The Islamic Religious Community has reacted after the news of the Constitutional Court's decision to annul the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia No. 02-268, dated 09.05.2024, which established the Private High School "Isa Bey Madrasah" in Skopje.

Read too The Constitutional Court annulled the decision to establish the "Isa Beu Madrasah" high school

The BFI underlines the fact that the establishment was approved by the Decision on granting approval for the establishment of the Private High School "Medreseja Isa Beu" No. 41-3741/2 dated 26.03.2024 by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and verified by the Decision on the verification of the conditions for the implementation of the curricula by the Ministry of Education and Science with Decision No. 13-3722/3 dated 09.04.2024 in a transparent procedure, passing all the filters determined by the legislator, just as other physical and legal entities have established and are establishing educational institutions in the country.

“The BFI of RMV will await the official receipt of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of RMV. It will then analyze the “reasonability of the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the Decision of the Government of RMV” and will take concrete legal steps. The BFI of RMV and the Madrasah Directorate assure the students of the Madrasah to remain calm that the BFI of RMV, in coordination and cooperation with the Government of RMV, other relevant institutions, political and international factors, has taken and will take concrete steps to ensure the accreditation of the Madrasah. In this context, we inform the public that we have initiated a procedure before the Constitutional Court for the assessment of the constitutionality of Article 7 of the Law on Secondary Education (“Official Gazette” of RMV, no. 64/18) which does not allow “religious teaching in secondary schools” on the grounds that it is in contradiction with Amendment 7 and Article 22 of the Constitution of "The Republic of Macedonia guarantees every citizen the freedom and opportunity for "religious education" in "religious schools" organized by the BFI or the KOM," the BFI explains.

BFI emphasizes that they have had meetings with the relevant institutions to find legal solutions and that the process is ongoing.

"With the decision adopted by the Constitutional Court, which decision continues the policy of disrespecting the Constitution and creates a continuation of the mechanism of discrimination against students and Madrasah students. Here we underline that it is incomprehensible to discriminate against students of a school founded in 1984 and for this discrimination to continue. However, we, with maximum vigilance and effort, always in the spirit of tolerance, understanding and cooperation with relevant institutions, will continue with the implementation of the major project, the officialization of the Madrasah," the reaction states.