After the liberation, about 70% of the population in Macedonia was illiterate. During the period 1945 – 1950, the priority task of the Macedonian government was the mass teaching of the illiterate Macedonian population and the national minorities to read and write. The teaching stuff was trained, both the primary and secondary schools were founded so as the faculties. So the solid didactical and educational base was founded. The process of high education in Macedonia started with opening of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje (1946). In 1949 the University "St. Cyril and Methodius" was founded in Skopje including, nowadays, over 30 faculties, 6 advanced schools and 18 independent scientific institutions. In 1979 the University of "Clement of Ohrid" was founded in Bitola. Till nowadays, about 100.000 students have been graduated at the University of Skopje. The scientific achievements have been resulting into over a few thousand M.A. and doctoral dissertations.
The institute for National History (1948) was founded among the first scientific institutions and afterwards the Institute for Macedonian Language, the Institute for Folklore, the Institute for Literature and so on. At the same time there were founded the institutes for exact sciences, sociological, political, agricultural and other sciences.
In 1967 the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) was founded. In MANU mamy scientific projects have been realized, a great number of scientific work have been published, the symposiums and exibitions have been organized. All above mentioned activities have been contributed to the development of the science and arts within the territory of the R Macedonia.
Literature In liberated Macedonia the prosperity in every segment of life has been reflected, at the same time, in the field of literature. Generations of literary writers have emerged into the publicity. The first generations of poets has included: Aco Shopov, Slavko Janevski and Blazhe Koneski. Srbo Ivanovski, Gane Todorovski, Mateja Matevski, Vlada Uroshevic, Radovan Pavlovski have been following the first ones; Atanas Vangelov, Todor Chalovski, Eftim Kletnikov and the others have been active in the last decades. The first book on short stories comes from the collection "Rastrel" written by Jovan Boshkovski. He has been followed by Stale Popov, Gjorgji Abadjiev, Vlado Maleski, Dimitar Solev, Meto Jovanovski, Simon Drakul, Tashko Georgievski, Petar Shirilov, Zhivko Chingo, Metodija Fotev and many young authors. In the 50s, the first novel in Macedonian "Selo zad sedumte jaseni" ("Village beyond the Seven Ashes") has emerged, written by Slavko Janevski. The important novels have been written by Gjorgji Abadjiev, Zhivko Chingo, Stale Popov, Vlado Maleski, Tashko Georgievski, Petre M.Andreevski, Bozhin Pavlovski etc.The dramaturgy has been characterized with the continuity in creation of Risto Krle, Anton Panov and Vasil Iljoski. Kole Chashule, Tome Arsovski, Goran Stefanovski, Jordan Plevnesh have been emerged as an important playwrights. The Macedonian literary critic is enriched with the names of Dimitar Mitrev, Gane Todorovski, Milan Gjurchinov, Aleksandar Aleksiev, Georgi Stalev, Gjorgji Staredelov, Atanas Vangelov and so on.
The Fine Art
At the same time the efflorescence of the Macedonian fine art becomes very obvious. The educational institutions (the School of Applied Fine Art, the Faculty of Fine Art), the museums (The Art Gallery, The Contemporary Art Museum, The Museum of the City of Skopje etc.) so as the existence of the great number of galleries have become the centre of the artistic life.
The doyens of the Macedonian contemporary painting (Lazar Lichenoski, Nikola Martinovski, Dimitar A.Pandilov, Ljubomir Belogaski, Borko Lazeski and the others), sculpture (Dimo Todoroski) and caricature (Vasilie Popovic - Cico) have been continuing their artistic activities.
The representatives of the contemporary tendences in the fine art with varieties of stylistic peculiarities are numerous Macedonian painters, graphic artists sculptors, ceramists (Dimitar Kondovski, Petar Mazev, Mile Korubin, Jordan Grabul, Petar Hadji Boshkov, Spase Kunoski, Tomo Shijak, Risto Kalchevski, Rodoljub Anastasov, Gligor Chemerski, Ana Temkova, Dushan Perchinkov, Simon Shemov, Dimiotar Manev and many others).
The Macedonian artistic creation has been gaining affirmation not only within the frames of Macedonia an Yugoslavia, but also in the international plan.
The Art of Drama The Macedonian Public Theatre was founded since 1945 as the first professional theatre followed by The Theatre of Drama (1946) and The Theatre of Minorities (1949); theatres were also founded in other towns of Macedonia. The pleiad of eminent artists such as: Todorche Nikolovski, Petre Prlichko, Ilija Milchin, Nada Geshovska, Milica Stojanova, Darko Dameski, Risto Shishkov and the numerous artists of the young generation have emerged on the Macedonian stage. D.Kostarov, B.Stavrev, Lj.Georgievski, V.Milchin, S.Unkovski and others are amongst the eminent stage-manager’s names. The Art of Music Having founded the first Music School, numerous chorus, Radio Skopje Symphony Orchestra and The Opera, the music art started to enrich the everyday life. Stefan Gajdov, Zhivko Firfov, Todor Skalovski, Trajko Prokopiev, Vlastimir Nikolovski, Toma Proshev, Risto Avramovski and some representatives of the young generation have been among the eminent musicologists – folklorists and the symphony and opera composers. The first opera "Goce" was composed by Kiril Makedonski in 1954; later followed the operas "Czar Samoil" and "Ilinden".Numerous institutions and individuals (RTV Skopje, Institute for Folklore, Vasil Hadjimanov etc.) have been concerned into the collecting and preserving the Macedonian folk music of rich colorite.
The Macedonian light music have also become very popular. The most eminent composers and arrangers are: Dragan Djakonovski–Shpato, Aleksandar Djambazov, Ljubomir Brandjolica, Dimitar Masevski, Slave Dimitrov etc. The Macedonian rock and jazz music with folk elements has been represented by the eminent groups such as: "Leb i sol", "Paramecium", "Mizar", "Anastasia" etc.
The Motion–pictures ArtHaving founded the state cinematographic institutions so as the Producing House "Vardar Film" (1945 – 1947), the conditions for the development of the motion-pictures art have been established. After the War, the first Macedonian documentaries were made; in 1952 the first Macedonian feature film "Frosina" was also made. The feature films’ production includes about 50 films among which the most significant are "Volchja noc" ("The Night of Wolves"), "Solunskite atentatori" ("The Salonica Revolutionaries-anarchists"), "Mis Ston" ("Miss Stone"), "Crno seme" ("The Black Seed"), "Srekjna Nova 1949" ("Happy New Year 1949"). The film "Pred dozhdot" ("Before the Rain"), has won the prize "The Golden Lion" in Venice and other international prizes and was nominated for "Oscar". Branko Gapo, Dimitrie Osmanli, Kiril Cenevski, Stole Popov, Milcho Manchevski etc. are the most eminent Macedonian movie directors.
Great is the number of highly-professional documentaries among which are the significant "Sharplaninecot" "Liquidator", "Tulgesh", "Australia, Australia" and especially "Dae" ("Mother"), also nominated for "Oscar". Since the 70s up today the Skopje school on animated cartoon has gained affirmation presented by: Petar Gligorov, Darko Markovic (the many prices winner), Boro Pejchinov etc.
The Cultural Manifestations Macedonia, as a country of centennial cultural traditions, has been the organizer of many cultural manifestations with international dimensions. The most affirmated among them have been: Struga Evenings of Poetry, Ohrid Summer, The World Gallery of Caricatires, The Balkan Folklore Festival, The Festival of Film Camera, "The Manaki Brothers", The Goce Days, The Youth Open Theatre, Skopje Jazz Festival and others. These manifestations on domestic and international plan have been represented and affirmated the Macedonian culture and art and have made the Macedonian ordinary man familiar with the world cultiral values. The Publishing and the Mass MediaThe significant place in the Macedonian social and cultural life has been granted to the press and the other mass media. Since October 1944 till nowadays, the newspaper "Nova Makedonija" has been regularly published later developing into the publishing house of importance with a number of newspapers: "Vecher", "Puls" etc. Since 1944-1945 till nowadays there have been publishing the newspaper in Turkish "Birlik" and in Albanian "Flaka e vlazerimit". Numerous publishing houses have been developed in parallel: "Prosvetno delo", "Goce Delchev", "Makedonska kniga", "Kultura", "Nasha kniga", "Studentski zbor", "Matica makedonska" and so on.
The plural society has been contributed to the publishing of the independent and private newspapers: "Republika", "Delo", "Makedonsko vreme", "Dnevnik" etc. A great number of other newspapers and reviews have also been published (weekly, monthly, local, youth and the others). Among these are the newspaper "Mlad borec", children’s newspapers of the publishing house "Detska radost" and the others.
The cultural life has been enriched by numerous reviews on literature, culture and art: "Kulturen zhivot", "Sovremenost", "Literaturan zbor", "Razgledi", "Kinopis" and so on.
Radio Skopje was founded in 1944/45, immediatelly after the World War II. Nowadays, the Broadcasting Company Macedonian Radio and Television (MRTV), as the most developed one of all broadcasting companies of public interest, and numerous independent radio and TV channels (Radio Noma, A1 television, TV Sitel and others) have been enriching the informative area in the Republic of Macedonia.