The beginning of the school year will not be postponed, so students will sit down on September 4. This is stated in the School Calendar published today.
With this, the Ministry of Education, which adopts that document, put an end to the proposals of certain members of the Government from the thematic session dedicated to tourism, when Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović proposed that the summer and winter holidays be extended by one week each.
The Minister of Education Miomir Vojinović brought the School Calendar for 2023/2024, according to which the school year begins on September 4 this year and ends on June 14 of the following year.
According to that document, the winter vacation will begin on January 1 and end on January 21, 2024, while the last school day for students in the final grades of primary and secondary school is May 17. According to the School Calendar, the summer vacation will last from June 17 to August 31, 2024.
At the Government session two days ago, it was proposed that the students sit in the benches on September 11 and that the date of the winter vacation be changed.
That was the proposal of the Prime Minister and certain ministers. The Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Joković recently, commenting on the prices during the summer tourist season, said that they "need to be increased" because the money "can be taken from those who come from abroad". He told Montenegrin citizens and neighbors from the region for whom it would be expensive to "go after September" or before the tourist season. Abazović said at the Government session the day before yesterday that the goal is to help tourism and enable better organization of classes.
Prime Minister Dritan Abazović proposed at the Government session on tourism two days ago to change the date of the winter vacation, and Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović to move the planned start of the upcoming school year by a week. Minister of Education Miomir Vojinović said that the department will seriously consider the proposal.
"We create the effect that our citizens also have the possibility that, when it's the tourist season, they can go with their children and enjoy the mountains. I understand European standards, but I don't think it's a strict obligation, but that we decide as it suits us. It suits us better that children go to school at the beginning of June, rather than in January," said Abazović at the session at Lake Biograd. He said that he guaranteed that the results would be visible.
Damjanović proposed that the school year begin on September 11 and assessed that "we are the ones who should decide on the duration of the school year, on the summer and winter holidays.
"It is clear that we no longer have such a hot June, we no longer have snow in December, like in February or even March. I believe that we are the ones who should decide on the duration of the school year, on the summer and winter holidays," he said.
This year, the winter vacation was extended by seven days, at the expense of a better winter tourist season. Parents did not agree with the decision to postpone the second half of the year, and educators also protested, pointing out that every working day must be made up. The citizens never received an answer to the question of how much the extension of the winter vacation affected the improvement of the winter tourist season and how much the state earned from it.
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