"The Ministry of Education is trying to make a move away from the facts that put a stain on this year's October"

Biljana Vukmanović (Bar), Senada Đešević (Plav), Krsto Vuković (Budva), Seka Slavković (Budva), Ana Vujačić (Nikšić) and Mirjana Rajović (Danilovgrad), a group of candidates for the "Octoih" State Award that reacted to this year's circumstances in regarding the decision on the winners, after the announcement of the Ministry of Education regarding their allegations, it reacted with a new notification.

We transmit it in its entirety...

"Before we say anything, the Ministry of Education should be aware of the fact that educators with decades of experience in Montenegrin education, enviable professional references and work biographies that they earned solely through their work, commitment and dedicated attitude towards their invitation. Otherwise, we would not even have a reason to apply for this prestigious award. Therefore, we would ask that through formal public notices on the Facebook page of the relevant Ministry, our intelligence and dignity, which we still have and will have, are not insulted.

Returning a candidate from the door of the Ministry of Education, who only asked for his right to free access to information, speaks volumes about the attitude of the Ministry towards the best in education.

Sending messages by Milica Žižić through the porter is an act that is not worthy of comment and that clearly speaks about the 'professionalism' of certain employees, those employees that you hired, Mr. Vojinović. It's your staff. Therefore, the official announcement of your PR service, in which you mention the right to free access to information, is questionable.

When we tried to exercise this right on Wednesday, December 28, your employees, Mr. Minister, did not allow us to do so. Obviously, they were not ready to make the documentation available for inspection at that moment. Why - they know that. So, please, don't try to silence this fact. Don't cover it up with demagoguery. We are not customers at the counter that you can easily return. Our work resumes will not allow you to do that.

The announcement of the Ministry of Education, in which it refers to the Law, is an unsuccessful and pale attempt to remove all the actions that put a stain on this year's Oktoix and for a moment extinguished its multi-decade shine. We will speak only in the language of facts.

First of all, Mr. Minister, we will ask you not to twist our words. It goes without saying that the competition is public and not 'secret', as you said, which we did not dispute. It was announced in accordance with the Law on State Awards and that is the only thing that was done according to the Law. Everything else is secret and non-transparent.

At no point did we say that you influenced the jury's decision, nor that you participated in the decision. We have called you to account for the appointment of jury members, in which each of the members 'accidentally' works in the institution or is engaged in the work of some body of the institution from which one of the candidates is. Do you really think we're going to believe it's a coincidence? And not only us, but the entire Montenegrin public.

The facts are as follows:

1. Two members of the School Board from the school from which the first winner came are appointed to the jury

2. One member employed in the school from which the other winner is appointed was appointed to the jury

3. Two members of the jury were appointed from the institution from which the third winner came

4. One of the winners was engaged in an expert-consulting contract in 2020-2021 at the Ministry of Education.

Who will believe in regularity? Who will believe in so many coincidences? Although the latest announcement mentions 'exemptions' at the time of voting, this contradicts the first official announcement by the Ministry of Education announcing the names of the winners, which says 'unanimous decision of the jury'. This means that everyone voted for every candidate, and not otherwise. The announcement read:

The Jury for the awarding of the Oktoih State Award, after a detailed consideration and evaluation of the received proposals for awarding the Award, and in accordance with the Rulebook on the detailed method, procedure and evaluation criteria for awarding the Oktoih State Award, UNANIMOUSLY decided that the Oktoih State Award for 2022 will be awarded to Martin Ćalasan , assistant professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Svetlani Varagić, chemistry teacher at the Slobodan Škerović Gymnasium, Podgorica and Milica Vojinović, economics group teacher, Mirko Vešović Middle School of Economics, Podgorica. This decision, in accordance with the Law on State Awards, was made by the jury for awarding the Oktoih State Award, composed of: prof. Dr. Milivoje Radović, president; Prof. Dr. Božidar Popović, member; Milica Žižić, member; Mijajlo Đurić, member and Marko Spaić, member.'

It is evident from the official announcement that the jury decided unanimously, in full composition, for each of the candidates. It is also noticeable that next to the names of the members of the jury, their activity is not highlighted, nor is their activity, i.e. work engagement, indicated. It's not a coincidence either. Therefore, we have additional doubts about the 'afterthought' of the exemption, after we made our doubts public.

Furthermore, Article 46 of the Law on State Awards reads:

The Oktoih Award is awarded by a jury appointed by the Ministry of Education from among prominent educational, scientific and cultural workers of Montenegro.

We note that the jury was not appointed in accordance with Article 46 of this Law. More precisely, neither Mijajlo Đurić nor Milica Žižić belong to any of the categories prescribed by the Law for this appointment. They are civil servants, not distinguished educational, scientific or cultural workers. Bearing in mind the age of the jury member Marko Spaić, who is only 28 years old, and without questioning his work biography because the colleague is just at the beginning of his working life, the logical question arises: where are all those educational and cultural workers throughout Montenegro? , from the north to the south, who earned the epithet of distinguished ones precisely because of their decades of work and merits? Why were they ostracized? Why wasn't a member of the jury one of the previous winners? Aren't they prominent educators? There are many of them. Also, why are all the members of the jury and all the winners from Podgorica? Why are they all from the same institutions?

We are looking for answers to all these questions. We know it won't be easy to give it to us. What's more, you may not even have one, because it's becoming more and more obvious that nothing is a coincidence and that a lot is not as it should have been. We will raise the question of the regularity of the composition of the jury.

And, finally, the Ministry of Education does not need to "defend" the winners. They should be "defended" by the score sheet and the attached documentation, as evidence. Yesterday, for the second time, we sent an email for free access to information, i.e. complete documentation related to the competition. We expect you to provide us with the same on January 4, 2023, the first working day after the holiday.

After that, we will decide on further steps. Also, there is something that is beyond all laws and regulations - it concerns some ethical norms, which we believe still exist. Therefore, we publicly request reception with you, Mr. Vojinović," they state in the announcement.