Kosovska Mitrovica Gains First-Graders as Caglavica Shrinks

Branko Radicevic Elementary in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica welcomed 72 first-graders today, four more than last year, while the picture from Gracanica, Laplje Selo and Caglavica points the other way. Principal Biljana Vukicevic said all four first-grade classes are ready and identically equipped, while only three children started first grade in the satellite department in Caglavica.

The new school year began today, September 1, in every Serb community in Kosovo, and for the first time individual school-by-school figures are available. North Mitrovica and central Kosovo are moving in opposite directions: Mitrovica is growing while satellite classes in Preoce and Caglavica keep shrinking.

Kosovska Mitrovica: More Children Than Last Year

Children and parents filled the schoolyard of Branko Radicevic Elementary this morning, waiting for roll call and class assignments. According to Vukicevic, enrollment is better this year than last, when the school took in 68 first-graders.

“We are satisfied with the enrollment. Seventy-two pupils have been divided among four first-grade classes. The children are ready for the start, the school is ready, cleaned, ready to welcome the first-graders and all the other pupils. Our first grade gets free textbooks,” Vukicevic said.

All four classes, she said, are identical, newly refurbished classrooms, so that no child feels any different from peers in other classes.

Why Are Only Three Children Left in Caglavica?

The picture is different in the schools covering Gracanica, Laplje Selo, Preoce and Caglavica. At Miladin Mitic Elementary in Laplje Selo, 24 pupils started first grade today, while six enrolled at the satellite department in Preoce. In Caglavica, where this school runs a satellite four-grade department, only three first-graders enrolled.

Principal Ljubisa Karadzic said the teachers try every year to make the first day as easy as possible for children and parents.

“For years now, the teachers have used their own creativity and some, well, small details to make this first day at school easier for the pupils,” Karadzic said, adding that the school wants to greet the children with smiles and wish them luck on their “new journey.”

Marko Markovic, parent of one of the three children enrolled in first grade in Caglavica, described the scale of the decline in a village that was once majority Serb.

“When I finished fourth grade as a pupil in 2000, there were 27 pupils in my class alone. And now, in first grade, there are only three children…” Markovic said.

He points to the events of 1999 as a cause, but also to property sales and emigration that has continued for decades, including the departure of people who in the meantime found permanent jobs with Serbia. According to him, even the generation that was due to start first grade has halved in just the past few months, from six preschoolers to three first-graders, as families sold their houses and left, most often for central Serbia.

Miladin Mitic Elementary has 335 pupils in total, and according to Karadzic the outflow is not yet alarming, since the school simultaneously takes in children from Gracanica and nearby settlements whose parents are moving their families closer to work. Karadzic also noted that there is still no marked pedestrian crossing in front of either the school in Laplje Selo or the one in Caglavica, even though the municipality of Gracanica has announced it will install signage.

Gracanica Records a Third Straight Decline

Kralj Milutin Elementary in Gracanica enrolled 64 first-graders, three fewer than last year’s 67. Principal Dejan Filic says the decline has been going on for several years.

“Unfortunately, that trend seems to be continuing. Last year we had 67. It’s not a huge number, but it’s still fewer than last year. Now we have three fewer first-graders than last year. I don’t know, I think maybe this generation is just smaller, so that’s part of why the number of first-graders is lower, not only because of migration, that is, relocation,” Filic said.

The Gracanica school has three main classes and a satellite department in Kisnica, and ahead of the new year the building was repainted and some classrooms renovated.

How Many Children Are in Schools Under Serbia’s System Today

Blazo Dragovic, head of the School Administration for Kosovo and Metohija, said this morning that classes started on schedule under the curriculum of Serbia’s Ministry of Education and that there is no surplus staff. “All the schools are ready to start working,” Dragovic said.

According to the latest cumulative figure from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, released in March 2026, about 17,500 children attend preschools, elementary and high schools that run Serbia’s curriculum in Kosovo. In the previous, 2025/2026 school year, more than 1,000 first-graders enrolled, per the same source. A cumulative figure for the newly started 2026/2027 school year has not yet been published, so for now only what individual schools have reported themselves is known, such as Mitrovica, Gracanica, Laplje Selo and Caglavica.

In Kosovo’s parallel education system, about 200,000 pupils from first to ninth grade and about 62,000 in upper secondary education are expected this year. The last complete figures, for the 2025/2026 school year, show 198,639 pupils from first to ninth grade, almost 10,000 fewer than the year before, when there were 208,515, and 62,085 pupils in upper secondary education, 1,466 fewer than the previous year.

In Serbia itself, according to Ministry of Education data cited by RTS, about 770,000 pupils started the school year: 530,000 in elementary school and 240,000 in high school. Here the sources disagree on the direction the first-grade numbers are moving: the Kosovo Sever portal says about 2,500 fewer first-graders enrolled than last year, while the same article, citing the ministry, says that for the first time more than 62,500 first-graders sat down at their desks. A clear comparison by the ministry with last year’s figure was not cited in the source.

Cumulative data for the schools in Serbia’s system in Kosovo, which would show whether Mitrovica’s example or Gracanica and Caglavica’s example better describes this year’s enrollment, have yet to be published.