The educational inspectorate will investigate who is responsible for the fact that the children in Podgorica Elementary School "Štampar Makarije" received a questionnaire, where the students, among other things, are asked to answer whether and to what extent they agree with the sentence that "homosexuals, prostitutes and drug addicts they deserve to die of AIDS”.
"The Directorate for Inspection Affairs has taken the initiative regarding this situation and the Educational Inspectorate will act in the domain of its competences, and, if necessary, inform the interested public about it", told "Vijesta" from that Directorate, which is headed by Ana Vujosevic.
Yesterday, the editorial staff was unable to get in touch with the school director Novic Gačević. He did not answer calls to the number available to the newsroom.
From the department, which he heads Miomir Vojinović, replied to "Vijeci" that they requested a statement from director Gačević regarding the controversial survey conducted among the students of this school.
"According to the director, the survey was carried out at the request of a former student of the school 'Štampar Makarije' to conduct a survey among students, with a random sample, for the purpose of research for the needs of a diploma thesis in psychology. The director allowed the survey to be conducted in three classes of the ninth grade, without prior consultation with the pedagogic-psychological service and the approval of the Institute for Education and the Ministry, considering that the topics and concepts contained in the research are those that students think about and discuss every day. Director Gačević, after the reaction of the public, apologized to the parents of the surveyed students for the inconvenience caused by this survey", said the Ministry.
They expect that at the next session of the School Board, which consists of representatives of the Teachers' Council, the Ministry of Education and the President of the Parents' Council, this survey and the director's procedure will be discussed.
Answering a question from "Pobjeda" about the controversial survey, Gačević recently said, among other things: "...I'm expecting a patriarch now, I don't have time now to mess around with those idle women..." After that, Gačević said in a statement for RTCG, apologized to students, parents and staff, explaining that it was psychological research for the purposes of a doctorate.
According to the parents, the disputed questionnaire was distributed to the students by the class teachers.
Students were expected to answer whether they agreed with several statements.
So they should have been determined according to sentences like: "In our families life was better when it was known who was the boss in the house", "Homosexuals, prostitutes and drug addicts deserve to die of AIDS", "I don't like people who are different from others" , "Mentally ill people should not be allowed to mix with healthy people", "After midnight, only the homeless and scumbags remain on the street"...
The students had to write a number from one to five, where one means that they completely disagree, and five means that they completely agree.
Yesterday, the Institute for Education (ZZŠ) announced that "all projects, extracurricular activities, including student surveys for the purposes of preparing graduate, master's, doctoral and professional theses, should be previously approved by the Ministry of Education after receiving a positive expert opinion from the Institute for education".
On the official Facebook page, they said that they were familiar with the content of the questionnaire, i.e. the assessment scale, through media coverage.
"That's why we could analyze the 'questionnaire' exclusively on the basis of the available data. The assessment scale offered is not methodologically, pedagogically or psychologically appropriate for the age of the students for whom it is intended. What we are particularly concerned about are the value attitudes that were given to the students for evaluation. They are full of intolerance and discrimination, they are unacceptable for a healthy society and the 21st century", according to the Institute.
They also point out that "all educational programs in their procedural goals define the necessity to develop tolerance, understanding and respect for diversity in students".
"The intentions of our educators who do not have time or do not consider it important to respect the established procedures can be evaluated both by the professional and the lay public, and the Institute of Education hereby appeals to the managers of all educational institutions to protect students from abuse, respect the procedures and thus protect the dignity of the work they perform", emphasized the Institute.
Bonus video:
