If the administration of the "Milorad Musa Burzan" elementary school in Podgorica remains on the position that half-graduates attend classes for part of the week in the morning class and part of the week in the intermediate shift, the students will not come to class on September 4.
This is what the parent told "Vijesti". Zvezdan Čađenović.
School principal Milica Vuković, however, tells parents that it is not theirs to deal with the schedule, but also points out that the organization of the school day is her "discretionary right".
Professor and vice-dean at the Faculty of Philosophy Biljana Maslovaric She told "Vijesta" that it is an unwritten rule that, in schools, the well-being of children is put first.
"Teachers who work in schools today were taught, in schools, that education must benefit all children. Their work exists for their benefit, the school exists to meet the needs of each child. The schools are overbooked and that is because there is a large concentration of the population in the capital and the school facilities were not systematically built on time...", explains Maslovarić.
The professor says that it is not unusual that in Elementary School "Milorad Musa Burzan" "those who make the schedule" cannot come to an agreement at the school level.
"The case with the 'Milorad Musa Burzan' school shows that the current problem is a consequence of last year's agreements, compromises that were once made and that has now come to fruition. Because of this, a kind of unfair approach to children is made. It was always known when who was going and who was on which shift...", emphasizes Maslovarić.
The parents of the students say that they will not agree to the solution offered by the management of that institution, that the ninth grade should be in the first class two days a week, and three in the intermediate shift, from 10.45:14.15 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Čađenović told "Vijesta" that parents do not understand why the school administration does not want to hear arguments.
It is also illogical, Čađenović warns, that director Vuković cites a spatial problem as the reason for moving the semi-graduate students from the established shift.
He also explains that the groups of special interest are the first, as the youngest members of the school community, but also the high school graduates, given their extensive obligations, both in terms of the number of subjects in the ninth grade, and in connection with passing the external high school graduation exam.
"The interests of the lower, sixth grade, for the first time, overwhelmingly prevail over the needs of the students of the final, ninth grade, who have by far the largest fund of subjects and classes, and much more importantly, they are preparing for enrollment in a higher level of education - secondary and are obliged to prepare and for very demanding, external tests of knowledge, in three subjects," says Čađenović, adding that 123 parents of semi-graduates are still waiting for an answer from the School Board.
The director of the school, Milica Vuković, said that "in the public, through the media, unfounded allegations are being made that are to the detriment of the institution of which she is the statutory representative".
She explained that, with the best of intentions, she proposed a plan for the organization of classes for the next year to the School Board, and that she received unanimous support.
"...There is a common opinion that the students of the future ninth grade attend the next school year in an intermediate shift, and not in the way that the parents of these students present to the public in the second shift. The official data on the organization of classes are currently in the preparation phase and will be known by the beginning of the school year at the latest... With all due respect and respect for the parents' initiative, I believe that with such actions they exceeded the limits of their competence in terms of the provisions of the General Law on Education...", said Vukovic.
The director also claims that her "professional views and opinions in the capacity of the statutory representative and manager of that institution are her discretionary right".
Professor Maslovarić points out that "what goes beyond this local case is the situation that happened two months ago, in which the Ministry of Education introduced the terrible, compromising practice of fixing grades and making children pass the matriculation exam by 'drawing' them".
"I perceive that event as a heart attack that happened to the education system, and from that moment on, nothing can be normal anymore," she pointed out.
In the future, Maslovarić concludes, there may be more problematic decisions in the educational system of Montenegro, and the current issue of the schedule in Elementary School "Milorad Musa Burzan" is just one in a series, caused by "drawing grades on the matriculation exam".
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