The shine of "Luče" fades in PISA testing

The poor achievements of Montenegrin students on international tests show that knowledge is not behind the majority of awarded "Luča" diplomas.

That's what the vice-president of the Assembly Branka Bošnjak told "Vijesti".

"If we want to be honest, it has been seen for a long time that our education has started a downward path and that we have a hyperproduction of 'Lights', behind which lies ignorance," said Bošnjak.

The results of this year's PISA test for XNUMX-year-olds will be known in December next year, and the Institute for Education previously told "Vijesta" that they "cannot be optimistic about achieving results that would meet expectations..."

From April 4 to May 20, according to international standards, the knowledge of 6.342 fifteen-year-old students was tested, of which 148 were in primary schools, and 6.194 were in secondary schools.

Out of a total of 7.306 half-graduates, elementary school graduates with a "Luča" diploma in the 2021/2022 school year. 1.079 students graduated, or 14,77 percent.

An approximate percentage of students with the "Luča" diploma finished elementary school in the 2020/21 school year. years. There are 1.083 students, or 15,57 percent, which is almost a sixth of the XNUMX-year-olds tested this spring.

The Center for Civic Education also warned that the number of students with the "Luča" diploma is not in agreement with the results achieved by Montenegrin students in the PISA tests.

According to CGO data, from the school year 2014/2015. until 2018/2019, the average number of students with "Luča" in elementary schools in Podgorica and Tuzi in relation to the number of students enrolled in the ninth grade was above 15 percent.

That's how it is in the 2018/2019 school year. out of 2.289 ninth grade students, 334 of them received "Luča", i.e. 14,6 percent, while in 2017/2018 out of 2.419 students, 371 or 15,34 percent received recognition.

In the 2016/2017 school year. out of 2.459 students in the ninth grade, 381 received "Luča", which is 15,50, while in 2014/2015 that average was 15,59 percent, that is, out of 2.316 students, 361 elementary school students received the award.

"Mostly, these are diplomas obtained through various connections, acquaintances, parental pressure on teachers and, I dare say, also due to politics that entered our classrooms and student desks a long time ago. All this has led to the fact that we have a hyperproduction of archers in both primary and secondary schools, given that the diploma is the ticket to universities", Bošnjak told "Vijesti".

She warns that "no one wanted to say it publicly, but the Analysis of the Education Sector presented two days ago for the period from 2015 to 2020 shows where our students are, which is why the system must change significantly".

"Everything should be analyzed. It is known that in primary and secondary schools there are so-called VIP classes, and it is precisely in them that there are the most diplomas of Luča, behind which there is ignorance. Excellent students from other departments pointed out this phenomenon, but none of the professors wanted to publicly support them. It is possible that it is less pronounced now than before, but it certainly still exists. I'm sorry because our children are talented, but when they reach the university, you can see how much their grades do not reflect their knowledge", warns Bošnjak.

According to her, "it is obvious that our children are illiterate, especially at a time when children do not read but use the Internet, so it is no wonder that more and more of our students are less and less literate".

"The Ministry of Education must systematically deal with this problem and control the schools, so that those who do not deserve them are not allowed to receive diplomas for all fives. We have good students, there will always be them in every system. We have more of those who are averagely good, but professors falter under various pressures and give them grades they don't deserve," says Bošnjak.

She also says that we must be realistic and look at all the problems in education.

"We used to be proud of the education system and the fact that our personnel were recognized in the world, which was our only resource for export, but now we are ruining that too," emphasizes the Vice-President of the Assembly.

According to her, the changes that were supposed to happen, and were described in the Book of Changes from 2001, were actually "excellent and should have produced results."

"Unfortunately, it was carried out in the Montenegrin way, it was changed from minister to minister through laws, and now it does not resemble what was imagined and described then. We should look again at the initial changes, but also at the progress in the world in the last 20 years, to adopt the experiences of better and more advanced ones, but not to falsify and rewrite them, but to adapt them to Montenegrin conditions", says Bošnjak.

The key, she warns, is to find the right people to write the curricula.

"And the most important thing - we have to remove politics from the education system. I am in favor of the starting point being exactly the Book of Changes from 2001, even though it has been degraded over time. And lastly, but not least, we must support educators in terms of their material and social status. Because only a satisfied educator can impart quality knowledge to students", Bošnjak concluded.

An analysis of the education sector for the period from 2015 to 2020, carried out by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education, indicated that more than 40 percent of students were below the level of the international benchmark, which is designated as 'poor achievement'.

"...More than 40 percent of these students, despite their participation in education, do not manage to master the minimum level of competence, while only an insignificant percentage of students (1,6 percent, 1 or less) achieve high achievements (on the PISA test, we are talking about levels 5 or 6, and in the TIMSS study at the 'advanced' level), while that percentage is on average around 10 percent in OECD countries, and in countries with the best achievements it reaches 20 percent or more," the document states.