The examination center did not announce itself yesterday, a day after the new results of hundreds of high school graduates whose tests from the external matriculation exam in the Montenegrin-Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian (CSBH) languages were re-examined were published.
Yesterday, "Vijesti" did not receive answers to the questions of how many tests were re-examined due to the suspicion that students copied, how many students received positive and how many negative grades.
There are also unanswered questions about who are the members of the new Evaluation Commission, how many there were, whether they underwent training for that job, whether contracts were signed with them, whether they worked under cameras and other measures, as required by internal rules. Examination center.
The institution did not deny the previously published unofficial information to "Vijesti" that some students, for whom the previous Committee for the Evaluation of the External Matriculation Examination emphasized that they had a certain number of tasks copied, also received high grades. Among such tests are those that were previously officially announced to have an essay transcribed from the Internet.
The previous Assessment Committee at the beginning of the week publicly stood behind claims that graduates had copied during the external matriculation exam, while the State Examination Committee insisted that the papers must be re-examined.
After that, the head of the Examination Center was replaced at a telephone session of the Government. A temporary Management Board was appointed, and Miloš Trivić was appointed acting director of the Examination Center...
The previous group of evaluators said in their only public address that 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 then announced more data indicating that hundreds of students copied. According to "Vijesti" unofficial information, the new evaluators also scored identical answers...
Mihailović: Honesty does not pay
The interlocutors of "Vijesti" say that they are aware that a compromise had to be found, but that such a difference in the evaluation of the two commissions is a "slap" to conscientious students and teachers.
The executive director of the Parents' Association, Kristina Mihailović, says that in that organization "they are so outraged that we would prefer to invite the parents of students who are dissatisfied with the grades on the external and matriculation tests, to use their right that they have been given these days to officially submit to the Minister of Education (Miomir Vojinović ) request that new assessors evaluate their tests again and increase their grades because they surely deserved it".
"There is nothing more to say at the end of this school year - the year of changing the school calendar due to the season, bomb alerts every now and then especially at the time of finalizing grades, leaking tests and rewarding rewriting. There is nothing more to say after all. There is no need to talk anymore. Something concrete must be done. We have been defeated as a society, and it seems that we have finally become aware of it. It's a bitter feeling because this is a "slap" to both conscientious educators and the children we are preparing for the future in this way. This is a message that we are not all the same, that honesty does not pay," said Mihailović.
She assessed that it is time for children, teachers and parents to unite.
"To save themselves from themselves. This is no longer a question of just one, but of all. This is an opportunity to unite and say that we do not agree to all this", said Mihailović.
Kaluđerović: Someone has to answer the questions
Snežana Kaluđerović, senior legal adviser at the Center for Civic Education (CGO), states that "we were all aware that this had to be done through a compromise".
"However, it is hard to believe in such a discrepancy between the evaluation results by two different commissions in relation to the same tests. The situation is complex and getting worse every day. In order to avoid the situation of 'the mountain shook, a mouse was born', this requires an urgent review of the work of both commissions in order to determine which commission did the work in accordance with the protocols and rules", stressed Kaluđerović.
According to her, a number of other questions are being raised - whether there was abuse of position at higher levels after the protest of students and parents, and whether the newly appointed commission passed an order on how to make decisions.
"In the midst of the pre-election campaign, the Minister of Education made some promises to parents and students who were protesting in order to cover up a serious problem. "He is the one most invited to come out publicly and clearly explain to everyone what happened, who made the mistake in the system, because until now only he has not been heard," Kaluđerović points out.
She pointed out that all this reopens the issue of the validity of Luč diplomas.
"Especially bearing in mind that there is not a small number of those who originally received zeros on the tests, that is, they were disqualified under the suspicion that they copied", Kaluđerović points out.
According to her, after learning about the disastrous results of the external graduation, it was expected that the process of appointing a new committee would be transparent.
"And the same would have best protected itself from the diametrically opposed evaluations of the tests if it had published the records of those evaluations with explanations, because the purpose of their appointment was to evaluate and explain disputed answers. Any concealment of information raises doubts about the adequacy of the implemented actions", says Kaluđerović.
This case, she warns, has shown how devastated the educational system is and how humiliated the teaching profession is.
"He showed the lack of seriousness of the educational authorities, he showed that we should seriously consider abolishing the external matriculation exam conducted by the Examination Center and return it under the auspices of a public institution, as it was once before, with the mandatory introduction of entrance exams at the high school and college level, where each institution individually conducted such an examination within its profession. In this way, the space for those who think that they can get far with shortcuts would be narrowed, and it would stimulate learning and work", concluded Kaluđerović.
The educational community proposes a joint protest
The president of the Non-Governmental Association Educational Union of Montenegro, Olivera Leković, proposed on the Facebook group Educators a joint protest of teachers, but also parents and students who did not cheat on the test.
She wrote in the post that we fell to the bottom and that it rattled well.
"The only good thing is that we can't go lower than that. It is up to us to see if we will remain at the bottom forever or if it is time to start an upward trajectory. It's the end of the week, the elections... Let's let it pass, and then from Monday let's get organized and all of us in front of the Ministry. And children who don't cheat and their parents and teachers who work honestly and the whole public who doesn't want to be treated tomorrow by an unknown doctor or tried by a corrupt judge," said Leković.
He says that they are not going to insult and scream, but to ask for the annulment of the decision of "another non-expert evaluation committee that worked according to the order, not according to the key and ethics".
"That the members of the State Matriculation Commission be dismissed and held accountable, that those responsible for postponing the mid-matriculation exam in mathematics, which was supposed to be held on April 20, be identified and punished, that the responsibility of the minister be determined, the names of the new members of the evaluation commission be announced" , Lekovic stated.
She requested that the public be informed about what recommended the members of the commission to be evaluators in a short period of time, whether and with whom they signed the contract, and whether they underwent the necessary training.
"Now is the time to react. We are thinking about September and whether we will be able to regain the little bit of authority and dignity in the classroom. We won't, we already know! Even exemplary students and their parents will no longer, rightly, respect us. Make no mistake, I'm not calling, just suggesting. If there is a large response, then we can consider more concrete steps", concluded Leković.
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