The Educational Union of Montenegro (PZCG) asked Prime Minister Duško Marković to dismiss the Minister of Education Damir Šehović, due to, as they said, political discrimination against educators and ignoring requests regarding their position.
The President of PZCG, Krsto Vuković, said at a press conference that they had sent a letter to Marković with that request and he assessed that the effect of the reform of the education system in Montenegro was weak.
"Our assessment is that the reform has produced negative results. There are developments in some segments, but when you look at the fundamentals, it is evident that it is about cosmetic changes within the system and that it was about internal propaganda," said Vuković.
In an open letter, he sent a request to the Prime Minister to answer numerous questions concerning work in the education system.
Vuković reminded that a few months ago, more than 20 non-governmental organizations with the support of citizens sent a letter and a request to dismiss Minister Damir Šehović, which was not answered.
"The problem is that numerous demands of educators are being ignored, which represents a kind of closed system, which is why, among other things, we are asking for the dismissal of Minister Šehović. This does not represent a projection of the democratic capacity of Montenegro, nor the Ministry of Education as a vital institution," said Vuković.
In an open letter, he cited cases of illegal business in schools and failure to act on the findings of the educational inspection.
"If there is a finding of the educational inspection, which works according to the law and if it gives proposals, opinions and orders and sends them to the current minister, we ask how it is possible that up to this day a dozen findings and requests of the educational inspection of Montenegro have not been answered in such a way that any director dismissed. Even when there is a court process, after the court's verdict, that does not obligate Minister Šehović to act in accordance with the court's order," said Vuković.
He pointed out that dissatisfaction in education comes as a result of increasingly frequent dismissals of educators, which, he said, are unfounded.
"In a short period of time of a few months, several dismissals took place, in which teachers with many years of service were involved, which promotes dissatisfaction and amonism," Vuković assessed.
According to him, educators face mobbing based on their political commitment.
"Educators cannot find employment, they cannot get a permanent contract, and some cannot get a job in their home town, after many years of service, they have been traveling for more than 20 years. At the same time, according to numerous new solutions in education, teachers do not receive compensation for transportation and a hot meal," Vuković announced.
He assessed that the decisions of the Ministry of Education regarding financial support to educational institutions must be more transparent.
"The minister made a personal decision to give half a million euros to the "Mehmed Fatih" madrasa in Tuzi, which is not indisputable. He can support any institution, but he needs to explain the arguments and make them available to the public, as well as explain if he decided to support an institution. helps, especially with that prefix of religious information, why doesn't it also help other religious institutions," said Vuković.
According to him, the authorities in the Ministry of Education do not respect the critical opinion and suggestions of educators, as well as, as he stated, ignore their posts on the official website of that institution.
"Does the website of the Ministry of Education, Facebook page or any other address exist solely for the active affirmative propaganda of what they do or for the collection of information that can mean improving the quality of the educational program. A democratic society implies critical thinking and the possibility to hear arguments for and against We don't have that at the moment," Vuković assessed.
The Institute for Education, as he stated, published the data that in the previous two years, 305 examples of violence in schools were recorded, of which 222 cases occurred in elementary schools.
"Peer violence is gaining momentum. Our question is what is the purpose of the reform, which concerns educational and educational goals, if we are not able to establish a working atmosphere and if there is any projection of violence. It is inadmissible that it appears even periodically because it contaminates the work of educators worker and makes it impossible," said Vuković.
He said that violence is multifaceted and that, as he said, greater efforts must be made in terms of the safety of educators.
"Increasingly, it happens that parents, without any supervision of the school administration, physically attack teachers for various reasons. With our approach and attitude, we do not amnesty the responsibility of educators. Of course, some educators make mistakes in their work, but it is unacceptable that we do not allowed to have a guaranteed status and level of safety at the workplace", announced Vuković.
He pointed out that the abolition of programs that have an affirmative effect on children, schools and the community undermines the quality of the education system.
"One of those programs is the debate program. For the first time, the national debate championship for high school students was not held, because Minister Šehović and his associates were not able to respond to the requests we sent. Chess was canceled in elementary schools, although worked on the implementation of that program for a long time. Recently, the "Princess Xenia" ballet school in Bar was closed after 14 years of operation, because it was estimated that there is no money in the budget to support that school," explained Vuković.
The vice-president of PZCG, Olivera Leković, said that the reform of education in Montenegro is not based on empirical research and experiences from classrooms, nor, as she believes, on the results of evaluation after ten years of reform.
"Every reform in education must be submitted to the judgment of the public, and especially it should be possible for teachers to express their demands and recommendations in the design of the entire reform," said Leković.
She assessed that the necessary preparations for the reform had not been carried out, nor, as she stated, had quality research been done that would provide guidelines for the reform.
"The reform is being carried out at once in all schools and classes, from which numerous problems arise, from teachers' ignorance of the curriculum, to the absence of textbooks and problems with the administration," said Leković.
According to her, there is a discrepancy between the positions of the employees of the Department of Textbooks and Teaching Aids and the positions of the Ministry of Education.
"In his statement, Minister Šehović said that in the previous two years, Montenegro embarked on a comprehensive reform of the education system, which keeps pace with modern technologies. At the same time, the representative of the Institute of Education claims that minimal changes have been made," explained Leković. .
According to the new curriculum, as she said, it is foreseen that during the nine-year schooling in Montenegro, a student has an average of 655 hours less than a student in the OECD countries.
"The annual number of classes in the first three-year schooling cycle is 646. The program and the number of classes have been shortened so much that at the end of primary schooling, students in Montenegro attended one year less than students from OECD countries," said Leković.
She said that the reform did not achieve the desired reduction in teaching programs, because the fund of Sunday lessons was reduced, while the amount of material per lesson remained the same.
"Until today, it has not been explained to us how they came to the information that the reform required programs to be relieved by ten percent. The weekly number of classes was reduced by ten percent, the subject programs as well, but the amount of material per class remained the same," explained Leković. .
She believes that the problem is that in the last ten years there have been no educators among the ministers.
"Why are ministers untouchable? Why don't they bear responsibility and represent the interests of educators? There is a long list of responses from colleagues via e-mail, or they asked for a meeting, and the Ministry did not respond to them," Leković assessed.
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