The education system in Montenegro needs to be depoliticized and responsible people should be brought to the head of the Ministry of Education, said the professor of the Faculty of Philosophy, Biljana Maslovarić.
On the occasion of the published analysis of the education sector 2015-2020, she assessed that Montenegro has knowledge, resources and people.
"But we don't have the will and, I'm afraid, the awareness of where we are. This has been going on for many years, people have a captive mind. We know why this happens - due to the absence of critical thinking, and behind all this is the economic status," said Maslovarić.
She believes that "we have the wrong people in the wrong places".
"Until now, we have had people with some biographies, who were in school but knew nothing about education," said Maslovarić, guest on the podcast of the Association of Parents and the agency MINA, "The education system needs urgent changes. What can we do?".
She recalled that 2012 was a turning point when donors left the educational system of Montenegro, and only UNICEF remained.
Maslovarić said that then the legal regulations were changed, after which school principals were appointed by the minister.
“Why do directors matter? The fish stinks from the head. When we have an institution, the first person who is responsible is the one who manages it," said Maslovarić.
She said that while all this was happening, the doors of educational institutions were open for political looting, adding that political parties recruited people and expelled the profession from schools.
According to her assessment, the abolition of civic education was a bad move.
Maslovarić said that the institutions in Montenegro do not function, and, as she added, if they do, there is a lot of bureaucracy in them.
She pointed out that the educational system of Montenegro used to be five years behind Croatia, and now, according to her assessment, it is 15 to 20 years behind.
"If we have wasted 20-30 years, we have nowhere to go back," believes Maslovarić.
She also referred to the dismissal of school directors last year, when the then minister Vesna Bratić dismissed over 250 directors.
"It was retaliation and hunting of people that I don't agree with," she said.
Maslovarić, answering the question, whether paying for private lessons for children is a common thing in other countries as well, said that she is afraid that this applies to "communities like ours".
"On non-democratic societies. And those who are classified as democratic, if it exists, it is in a small percentage, it didn't start today, it started a long time ago," said Maslovarić.
Asked about when everyone will be held accountable for what they did not do, Maslovarić said that the problem is that functions are put before responsibility.
"We have to start from scratch, to talk about it loudly, we have not started it, nor have we named things," she said.
Maslovarić also believes that it is important to build an alliance, that it is important to understand that teachers, parents and students are together.
She said that there is no need to look for the culprit, but also that she does not agree with the platitude "that we are all guilty".
"I did everything I could, and when it was difficult for me, I fought for my attitude. "To carry on my shoulders, to shout, to be neurotic, to endure all that, why - because I speak the truth, because no one has ever denied me", she said.
Maslovaric said that it is necessary to put an end to the name-calling, and that it is up to the politicians to do what they need to do.
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