SKOPJE, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday voiced their readiness to strengthen cooperation through different programs, the Macedonian ministry of education said in a press release.

For this purpose, Macedonian Minister of Education and Science Renata Deskoska and UNICEF Representative Benjamin Perks signed here on Wednesday the 2018 Cooperation Program.

Through this program, UNICEF will provide support to the Ministry of Education and Science and other competent institutions to improve the quality of the educational system here.

"Under the annual cooperation program, support will be focused on improving the system to boost its quality by carrying out an analysis on grading and evaluation, bolstering the capacities of school staff and stimulating the competitive spirit of young people," said the ministry.

It also said that UNICEF was slated to support the preparation of strategies on introducing education considering that such strategies would play a vital role in establishing value amongst young people as well as for professional development of teachers to apply new teaching methodologies.