The mother of a boy with special educational needs claims that the administration of the "Lovcen Partisan Detachment" elementary school in Cetinje is threatening to place the child in a home if he does not attend classes regularly and does not accept the assistant assigned to him.
She told "Vijesti" that MZ refuses to go to school, often cries and persistently searches for her "old" assistant Zoran Kapisoda.
"I struggled to get him to speak and stand on his feet, and now they are threatening me with the Center for Social Work and placing the child in a home, because he refuses to go to school, since he has been assigned a new assistant. It turns out that I am an irresponsible mother. What parent would rather watch their child sit at home all day instead of going to school,” says AA single mother of a child with developmental disabilities.
The director of the school, Sandra Sjekloća, denies allegations that MZ does not attend classes regularly.
"If Kapisoda would influence the boy's parents for his personal goals, and this would result in him being absent from school, the Center for Social Work, as well as other institutions dealing with the problem of child abuse, will be informed about this," she said.
The director of the school, Sandra Sjekloća, denies allegations that MZ does not attend classes regularly
Last year, her son, a seventh-grader, was assigned the assistant of Kapisoda, a teacher with 25 years of pedagogical experience, who taught in several schools in Cetinje.
He worked as an assistant with two other children.
“Those children only needed occasional help. It was different with MZ. When I started working with him last year, the boy only knew half of the letters. At that age, with his capabilities, he should have mastered the material for the third grade, which includes the multiplication table, to read and write fluently in Latin and Cyrillic," Kapisoda told "Vijesta".
The boy's mother says that he finished the sixth grade with good success - he learned letters, the alphabet, the English alphabet, numbers and to recognize colors and write their names in English...
He also coached basketball.
At the end of the school year, it was allegedly agreed with the school administration and the boy's mother that Kapisoda, who worked on a ship this summer, would work again as an assistant with the Ministry of Health in the seventh grade.
"I promised that I would come, so at the end of August I sent my daughter to the school to find out about the start of classes. They told her not to worry, that I would be informed and that everything would be a little late. When I came on September 6, they again said not to worry. The next day a colleague told me that he starts working with another boy on September 10 and asked me if they called me too. They didn't. I asked the director what it was all about, she told me that she left everything to the assistant Maria Tatar", says Kapisoda.
In the meantime, an assistant was hired for the Ministry of Health, who worked with him for two days.
After that, on September 7, another assistant was hired, who, according to Kapisoda and the boy's mother, is the daughter-in-law of assistant Tatar.
She and Kapisoda turned to the school management and then the Ministry of Education for everything. So far, no results.
"I spoke to psychologist Branka Vujović, Dejan Milošević from the Center for Social Work, the Commission for Children with Special Needs, which includes Branka Vujović, Rada Perišić, children's doctor Đuro Latković and Božo Drecun. The committee sat and they received a request from the mother to help her so that the child could be with me... The pedagogue of the boys' school raids the home in Bijela. If they continue like this, that child will sink. He is 13 years old, he is in puberty," said Kapisoda.
According to the Ministry of Education, 265 assistants were hired in schools this year.
The non-governmental organization "Naše sunce" previously assessed that this is not enough and that half of the children do not have assistants.
They warned that a change of assistant, i.e. a meeting with an unknown person, can cause stress, aggressive behavior in children with developmental disabilities...
He promised the boy that he would not let him down
Kapisoda points out that he does not need money and that this is not his motive for work.
"I have a salary of 3.000 dollars on the ship, I could have stayed another month, two... but I was guided by the fact that I promised the child and the mother that I would not let them down".
The expected amount of salary for assistants is 193 euros in the net amount...
Kapisoda reminds that after the parliamentary elections, by which time the assistants are engaged under the volunteering contract, a competition will be announced. "I will compete. And what will we do then? Will they then eliminate me with 25 years of experience, and accept someone who just started working".
Director Sjekloća estimated that Kapisoda should be replaced
Sjeloća told "Vijesta" that the school is not obliged to hire the same person as a teaching assistant every year, and that it is her personal assessment that a replacement should have been found for Kapisoda.
"The reasons for this were presented to Kapisos in a personal conversation."
Sjekloća claims that the assistants started working on September 1, and that Kapisoda answered the phone only on the 15th - justifying the "delay" with personal reasons.
Chapter: Aren't we here for the kids?
Kapisoda says that he was referred to psychologist Tamara Milić when he approached the Ministry of Education. She allegedly recommended that the decision on the assistant should be made by the school administration.
"During the phone conversation, she convinced me that the child could not be attached to me, she reminded me of what was taught in the seminars. I know that, but... Aren't we here for the children... MZ got attached to me because he realized that I taught him how to handle money, that other children don't make fun of him, that he is equal, even better than other children. When the subject teacher says - you M. are better than the five or six who pretend to know... That's a great success".
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