Montenegro: Old problems
The new school year in Montenegro will begin with a warning strike, but also with old problems that plague both educators, students and their parents. These are, among other things, lack of space, equipment, heating, but also transportation, as well as increasingly frequent peer violence among children.
"The problems and challenges we face are the same every year, but this year there will be more of them. The beginning of the school year is problematic, especially because of rising prices, from basic foodstuffs to everything that children need. The question arises, how will parents who have more students, whose children are going on an excursion this year and have graduation and semi-graduation, and there are also private lessons that require additional costs, assess the president of the Parents' Association? Kristina Mihailović.
She says that we are still facing the problem of overbooking of kindergartens and schools, so in certain institutions there is a collapse and it affects the entire educational process. The problem, he claims, is also the lack of extended stay.
"This year we expect that there will be problems with heating, as well as transportation for a significant number of children," says Mihailović.
She points out that the absolute priority is solving the infrastructure problem, for which money must be found in the budget and reminds that the state received a 11 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 10 years ago for the construction of seven kindergartens, and that in Bar and Ulcinj not even their construction did not start today.
"The Unicef analysis showed that two thirds of our children do not have adequate spatial capacities, that one computer is used by a large number of children, which further complicates the teaching process," emphasizes Mihailović.
Member of the Board of Directors of the Union of High School Students of Montenegro Pavle Đurović says that the new school year brings challenges, but many are already known and repeated. He believes that the absence of discussion on important topics is one of the reasons for this.
"Violence, as one of the key problems affecting today's society, justifiably causes fear in many high school students, both for personal reasons and for the safety of their peers. Unpleasant events from our country and region discourage us because we were not aware of the scale that violence can encompass, but they encourage us that we have to devote ourselves thoroughly to this problem for the sake of personal and general well-being", he reminds.
Đurović says that one of the main problems for high school students is the graduation exam.
"We believe that it is necessary to sit down, talk, take into account the previous experience and make proposals in order to enable the best possible examination. There is a part of the public that is in favor of abolishing or making certain changes to the matriculation exam, as well as introducing entrance exams at all faculties, but all of these are proposals that must be considered together with a broad consensus and the participation of both students, professors and the professional public," he points out. .
Đurović claims that the proposal that has not been properly addressed, and which originates from students and professors, is the organization of classes in two classification periods, i.e. semesters, instead of four classification periods - quarters.
"Depending on the school, high school students also face problems such as the difficulty or impossibility of conducting practical classes, inadequate space in which to stay in the school, problems with heating, lack of necessary equipment for quality classes, scarce offer of electives and other ongoing problems", he emphasizes.
During this year, teachers' salaries were increased by 20 percent, and from January they expect an additional increase of 10 percent. With a warning strike lasting an hour before the start of classes or during a break between two shifts, educators will ask the Government to solve a number of problems.
President of the Education Union Radomir Božović He told "Vijesta" that they are asking the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Education and Finance to amend several laws, in order to restore the reputation of the education system and the dignified status of educators. He will insist that employees in education be granted the constitutional right to strike, solve the problem of transportation costs for employees, but also the deficit of teachers in education. Božović reminds that the education system lacks teachers of mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, music and art education, but also that the young generations are not motivated to work in education.
Božović says that among the demands is the depoliticization of the education system and suppression of party employment. Educators will also seek changes to the Criminal Code, given that research has shown that every fourth employee was exposed to verbal or physical harassment, or violence.
Serbia: The beginning under the weight of the tragedy in "Ribnikar"
Four months since Serbia faced a mass shooting in which nine students and the guard of the Belgrade Elementary School "Vladislav Ribnikar" were killed, the new school year begins under the weight of that tragedy, with the general dissatisfaction of educators, because they have received everything that the government promised so far only new obligations.
Ten days before the start of the new school year, the Ministry of Education sent primary and secondary schools guidelines for the organization and implementation of educational work, in which special emphasis is placed on improving educational work with students.
As stated in that document, "the main goal of work in the 2023/2024 school year. represents the development of positive human values in students and the improvement of relationships based on mutual respect, cooperation and solidarity with respect for diversity".
Minister of Education Slavica Đukić Dejanović said that September 1 should be a day of dialogue between students and teachers not only about school programs, but also about emotions, values and the future.
During the first week of classes, thematic classes should be organized in schools, with workshops and other activities aimed at fostering empathy, the values of mutual respect, cooperation and solidarity, while respecting diversity.
In the second teaching week, it is planned that the teachers will conduct an initial test, based on the results of which they should plan further work with the students.
The guidelines do not prescribe in detail what teachers should do, nor do they support them to implement what they envisioned. The autonomy that schools are crying out for is now partly given to them, but on the other hand, nothing that is prescribed in the plans and programs has been reduced, nor have teachers been freed from some administrative duties.
On the contrary, everything they do will have to be written down in annual and operational work plans, and there is a justified fear that much of what is on paper will remain there.
How well the professor of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade noted it Aleksandar Baucal, the Ministry said in the guidelines what should be more in education, but we all know that children and teachers are constantly running through the program, that there is no time to stop for some topics that are in the program, and now they are still expected to deal with the topics which are completely unknown to them.
That is why experts rightly expect that this school year will look identical in the majority of schools to every previous one, and that those educational institutions that have lived up to the spirit of the guidelines for some of their own reasons will continue to do so in the future.
Baucal is also right when he expects that the school documentation will look different at the end of this school year, which will be the only proof for the Ministry that everything was planned and implemented. The undivided impression of educators is that the guidelines arrived too late, and the educational authorities persistently demonstrate the delay in implementing what was promised.
On the eve of the beginning of the new school year, amended regulations on the financing of primary and secondary schools entered into force, in which the criteria for determining the number of professional associates (psychologists and pedagogues) were partially changed, depending on the number of classes.
The limits for the employment of psychologists and pedagogues have been lowered, from which it can be concluded that there will indeed be more of them in schools, but the Ministry did not announce the precise calculation, nor did the education unions announce themselves on this occasion.
Amendments to the educational laws that have been announced since the end of last year are pending in the parliament. The Ministry announced that the changes to the school regulations strengthen the educational function of the school and enable better prevention and more effective response and action in cases of violence in schools, and among the proposed measures are the numerical assessment of behavior from the second grade of elementary school, the possibility of a student being suspended from classes in case of more serious violations of obligations, increased educational work with students who commit violence or exhibit problematic behavior, and more effective implementation of disciplinary procedures against these students. The educational authority promises that the new legal solutions will enable more intensive cooperation and better communication of all institutions dealing with protection from violence (schools, Ministry of Interior, centers for social work).
In the meantime, it was announced that policemen will take care of security in all schools, which is a direct consequence of the May tragedies (not only the shooting in "Ribnikar", but also in the villages near Mladenovac).
The increased presence of the police instills security in some parents, students and teachers, while in others it causes panic and fear. But in this case too, there was no clear and precise information on how many additional members of the MUP will be engaged in schools, what their working hours will be and what their responsibilities are.
The general impression is that everything is done overnight, without a clear plan and strategy, information is communicated half-heartedly, mostly through media close to the regime, instead of directly to schools and parents. Employees, students and parents from "Ribnikar" are in a similar situation, for which special support and a work plan have been announced. These days, they are additionally tormented by (mis)information about the fate of that school, along with pervasive mistrust towards the authorities who, as an example of the May tragedies, have shown that they do not know how to manage the crisis, but instead deepen it further.
BIH: An additional number of psychologists were hired to prevent violence
Bearing in mind the difficult events in the countries of the region in recent months, numerous experts in the field of education, as well as health, these days with the beginning of the new school year in Bosnia and Herzegovina are warning school employees and parents to help their little ones to leave them with good memories of going to school , to be as less stressful as possible for everyone in the complete educational system.
Professor Samela Alagić, senior associate for the welfare of students at the Institute for the Development of Pre-University Education of the Canton of Sarajevo, in an interview with "Oslobođenje", explains that fear is a primary feeling, characteristic of every child, but also of an adult. Its role is defensive and evolutionarily important.
"Each stage of a child's development carries certain fears that are related to the age of the child. For example, children starting first grade begin to have fears of the supernatural: ghosts, witches, then fear that someone is dangerous, hidden, e.g. under the bed, fear of getting lost in an unknown space (fear of the forest, fear of loneliness), fear of separation," says Alagić, stressing that parents can make it much easier for children to overcome their fears.
In educational institutions, there should be help and support, and the work of school pedagogues and psychologists is necessary in all of this. The child needs help and support. Of course, through the support of the child, support is also provided to the parents.
"Often, parents need to get guidance and recommendations from the professional services of schools in order to more easily deal with the developmental fears of their children and try to help them in the best way. Workshops for parents would be intended for parents of children who face the impossibility of adequate answers and help when it comes to fears and numerous other challenges of parenting, she says, and warns that if developmental fears are not overcome or mitigated, neurotic fears may arise that require professional help.
Last year, the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo Canton hired 77 psychologists and social workers in pre-school institutions, primary and secondary schools.
This school year, an additional 35 psychologists will be hired.
The Council of Parents of Primary and Secondary Schools of Sarajevo Canton is, he says Elma Dizdarević, president of the Board of Directors of the Council, after the unpleasant events that happened in the environment and in our country, actively worked on the prevention of any form of violence.
"On several occasions, we have addressed the authorities who, within their competences, can and should ensure an environment for our children. At the very beginning of this school year, we sent letters to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of KS, the Ministry of Transport of KS and, of course, the departmental Ministry of Education of KS and asked for safety for our children. I appeal to parents to talk to their children and point out the fact that schools are a safe environment in which they will be educated, brought up and grow", emphasizes our interlocutor.
Dizdarević recalled that they had repeatedly appealed to employ psychologists in schools, that every school in Sarajevo Canton has a psychologist.
"Psychologists have an important role in working with our students who need help, who will be available to our students both when they are happy and when they are sad. Our children/students often see support from psychologists and present them with problems that their parents don't want. The representative of the parents is a member of the group formed by the competent Ministry of Education of the KS, which, according to the decision of the Government, formed a group of the best experts who worked on the project 'School of Parenting', which will be aimed at parents, and which will be for us parents of great help, both to parents who are already parents, and to future parents", added Elma Dizdarević.
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