Who is protecting knowledge and who are cheaters

Although the Assessment Committee has publicly backed claims that graduates copied during the external matriculation exam, the National Examinations Committee insists that the papers must be re-examined and that they expect evidence of cheating on the test to be clear.

The order was preceded by a telephone meeting of the Government, during which the director of the Examination Center was dismissed Dragana Dmitrović, the Management Board of that institution and the chief evaluator Dragana Nenadović.

"Measures to protect the public interest are being introduced due to non-fulfillment of the obligations established by law regarding the organization and conduct of external examinations and non-fulfillment of the decisions of the competent state authorities, the realization of the public interest and the prevention of negative consequences for students who wish to continue their education at higher education institutions", the explanation of the decision states. about the dismissal.

He was appointed acting director of the Examination Center Miloš Trivić.

A temporary Board of Directors was also appointed, which will consist of a professor of history Miomir Đurišić, lawyer Mihajlo Ćetković, professor of Serbo-Croatian language and Yugoslav literature Dragan Čađenović, Tatiana Vujosevic i Bojana Ostojić on behalf of the Examination Center.

In a joint statement, the dismissed members of the Exam Center's Board of Directors and Director Dmitrović said that it was a great honor "to be dismissed because of the defense of the integrity of the educational profession of colleagues from the Evaluation Commission, who did not want to 'turn a blind eye'".

"This board of directors, the director, and especially the colleagues who evaluated the graduation tests, had two things in mind at all times: that the system should be kept independent of the individual and, perhaps even more important: if the educational system teaches children to cheat, it pays off, how do we educate them and with what message do we send them into society? In the end, we emphasize once again the fact that there is no legal way in which the said commission could have behaved in this case, except the way it has behaved", states the statement signed on behalf of the Board of Directors. Valantina Radulović Šćepanović and former director of the Examination Center Dragana Dmitrović.

They said that "they can perform any tasks outside the Examination Center", but that in that institution "only and exclusively representatives of the education system, who performed their work honorably, responsibly and professionally, are strongly grounded in the attitude that we insist on what what we believe in".

"We wish the colleagues who will perform this job in the future success in their work, hoping that they will defend the reputation of the education system as it deserves", the announcement concludes.

In the only public address, the assessors said they could not turn a blind eye to the fact that between 200 and 300 students gave the same, incorrect answer to the 21st question of the test. They announced more data indicating that hundreds of students copied the test, emphasized that there is no legal possibility to review the tests again, and suggested that those students be given another opportunity to take the exam.

However, the parents of the students refuse this, while they demand a new evaluation of the tests from the State Examination Commission.

"It is in accordance with the best pedagogical practice. The largest number of remarks was that the answers, which students and parents received on Friday, were unclear, incomprehensible... The decision of the evaluation committee should be publicly explained and clearly proven that something was or was not copied", said yesterday the director general of the Directorate for General secondary and professional education and lifelong learning Slobodan Savović.

CGO: Election campaign above procedures

The Center for Civic Education announced yesterday that the educational authorities are "most responsible for this situation".

"We believe that it was unpleasant for everyone these days to watch their public controversy and shifting of responsibility. We can only imagine what happens in the depth of the system, when it escalates into this kind of situation", said CGO.

They say that recent events have exposed serious problems, and the education system has shown that it seriously lacks authority and integrity.

"The behavior of the minister (Miomir Vojinović), who does not recognize his responsibility, but dismisses the director of the Examination Center, without knowing whether and what kind of control was carried out and what its results were, is also very worrying," said the CGE.

They point out that, if it is taken into account, "that the Prime Minister (Dritan Abazović) also strongly stood behind the minister, who also does not recognize his responsibility in anything, it is clear that the pre-election campaign suppressed all procedures here as well, and when the procedures from system, then it further collapses the whole system".

That organization appeals to find a compromise.

"Respecting the principles of the evaluation committee, perhaps one of the solutions, apart from the remedial deadline scheduled for June 13, is the immediate formation of a new committee that will review only the disqualified tests, while taking the approach that doubtful and disputed answers that caused the tests to be disqualified are not scored, that is, to subtract points from the total. A number of students may fail again, but then we believe it will be about those who really copied and did not learn by heart, as may be the case with some students".

The CGE states that "due to the absence of verification of each individual work that is disqualified, it is possible that those who studied may experience injustice".

Parents' Association: Children copied while teachers supervised them, and now we are relativizing it

Director of the Parents' Association, Kristina Mihailović, told "Vijesti" that everything that is happening these days is "the pinnacle of the collapse of our education system, which is pointed out, in vain, by who knows when and why what is happening is happening".

“There may be some other information that the public does not know, but based on what can be heard so far, the children were copying, and it happened while the teachers were supervising them. Period. The evaluators confirmed it and were the only ones to speak up. The others in the chain don't even know what they determined because they avoid clearly stating what they concluded," said Mihailović.

The authorities, she emphasizes, are announcing new evaluation commissions.

"...And the question is what the new commission can determine that the previous one did not, bearing in mind the views of the evaluators. We did not realize that someone denied the rewriting, but we realized that now everyone is running away from responsibility by shifting the blame to the other side. This is an opportunity to finally come clean. It is possible to see who copied and how, because the evaluators, as we saw from their reactions, indicated what was copied and from where, and it is also possible to check where exactly it happened", says Mihailović.

According to her, the reports of the Examination Center testify that this has been happening until now.

"This is just the culmination, and why wouldn't it be because it's been happening for years and no one is being held accountable. The absolute responsibility of everyone must be demanded and insisted upon. It is a special responsibility of all of us to send a message to children and young people that this is unacceptable, and that everyone who decides to do something like that will be held accountable. That doesn't seem to be the case now. Now things are relativized", concluded Mihailović.

She reminded that on the day of the CSBH language matriculation exam, Minister of Education Vojinović, during his visit to the "Slobodan Škerović" Gymnasium in Podgorica, said that all errors and ambiguities that had arisen in previous years had been eliminated.

"As the Ministry of Education, we have taken all measures to ensure that this exam goes smoothly and that the difficulties from previous years are not repeated," Vojinović said then, and Mihailović reminded.