From September, students of lower grades will not be able to spend time after school in Podgorica Elementary School "Oktoih", because that institution no longer has space for the extended stay service.
Due to almost double the number of students compared to the number for which it was designed, the school is also forced to turn the library into a classroom in the morning shift.
Parents complain that the extended stay will not be available at the school from September, because the costs of similar services in private playrooms are high.
However, the director of the school, Mirjana Radulović, told "Vijesti" that canceling the care of children, first and second graders, after classes was a forced move by the institution's management.
He points out that the school management decided to take this unpopular step because there is not enough space for adequate classes.
"The school was designed for 800 students, and we have almost twice as many, that is, 1.550," said Radulović.
She pointed out that she understands the parents, but that they were forced to make that move.
He also explains that due to the lack of space, the library is turned into a classroom before noon.
"We have a large influx of students, a lot of new buildings have been built in the settlement, that is, the population is moving in," Radulović pointed out.
She emphasized that they acted in accordance with the General Law on Education, which stipulates that schools organize extended stays in accordance with their capabilities.
This is not the first problem when it comes to the overbooking of schools in Podgorica.
Last year, the Ministry of Education introduced the so-called territorial principle, with which it tried to solve the problem of parents in the immediate vicinity of the institution, whose children remained unenrolled in a certain school, because the places were previously filled by first-graders from other settlements.
Thus, since last year, the Ministry has introduced an obligation for schools to clearly highlight, on the building but also on the institution's Internet presentations, the lists of the associated settlements.
The purpose of the territorial principle, as they stated, is to allow children who live near the school to enroll in that institution.
The Ministry explained that due to the application of the territorial principle, some parents or guardians will be required to submit a certificate of residence to the Ministry of the Interior, as proof that they have not changed their residential address, that is, that they belong to the area of a certain school.
Those who changed their residential address after February of the current year must also obtain a certificate, regardless of whether they reported the change to the MUP.
"If there is room, the school can also enroll children who are not from the neighboring settlements. In those cases, priority is given to students from families whose older children already attend that school".
A few years ago, Podgorica Elementary School "Štampar Makarije" could not enroll first-year students from the immediate vicinity of the school, because the places were previously filled by children with an address in the neighborhood across from the Delta City - City Quarter shopping center.
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