Today’s start of the second term of the school year is not going to mark the beginning of the study of the Macedonian language by ethnic Albanian first-graders in spite of Education Minister Nikola Todorov’s categorical position that the government decision has to be put into practice. The minister is going to face a silent boycott. It is unclear though how the boycott will be carried out, whether students will be absent from schoolrooms or will stay inside with their teachers, ignoring Macedonia’s official language, Dnevnik reports.

Minister Todorov and the representatives of the non-governmental organizations “Ilirikum libertas” and “Reality” met Monday but failed to find a solution to the problem. The only thing they agreed on was to wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court, with which the studying of the Macedonian language by ethnic Albanian first-graders had been appealed against.

“The education minister told us that classes will begin and that the novelty will be put into practice. We tried to talk him out of it, because it is certain that the classes will be boycotted. We agreed to wait for the Constitutional Court’s decision. However, it is certain that Albanian first-graders will not have Macedonian language classes,” said Tuesday Valon Bela, president of the non-governmental organization “Reality”.

Education Ministry officials say they are doing all they can to avert a class boycott but refrain from revealing any details.