Montenegrin students acquire non-functional knowledge, and the fact that the number of exceptional students is small indicates a new problem, when compared with the number of "Luča" diploma winners in primary and secondary schools.
This was stated by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Anđela Jakšić Stojanović during the session of the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Science, Culture and Sports.
"Since 2006, our students have not been able to boast of PISA test results. What stands out is that our students are always below the OECD average. Sometimes we were better, sometimes worse, but now for the first time we all asked ourselves what led to this and what needs to be done to improve these results," Jakšić Stojanović stressed.
"Our students acquire non-functional knowledge. It is knowledge that they learn for assessment, but they do not know how to apply it in a real context. The fact that there is a small number of outstanding students is of particular concern, which indicates a new problem, when compared to the number of winners of the "Luča" diploma. in primary and secondary schools. In primary schools, we have 8,5 percent of "Luča" winners, so when we compare with 1 percent of students who are tested, we see that we have a problem with the evaluation criteria," said Jakšić Stojanović.
According to her, the practice of politicizing the Montenegrin education system must end.
"It is clear to everyone that there is something wrong with our plans and programs. We do not have a sufficient fund of classes in the field of natural sciences. There is the problem of turning teachers into administrative workers, but also the problem of infrastructure. We should not look for which minister is to blame, which is less and who worked more. The fact is that the state of the education system is very bad, but the fact is that more work needs to be done, that we should all make efforts to make our education system better," Jakšić Stojanović assessed.
She emphasized that school board members are leaving those bodies because they have become public officials.
"We have to pay special attention to this and the session. We have a school where the Education Inspectorate has repeatedly found irregularities, and the school boards have not raised the issue of dismissing the principal. As a minister, I have an obligation and responsibility, but I have no rights. When the roof leaks, when violence occurs at the school, everyone calls for the responsibility of the minister, and when a decision needs to be made, it is left to the school board," warned Jakšić Stojanović.
The Acting Director of the Institute of Education, Irena Pavlović, proposed a mobile laboratory, in the form of an equipped bus, which could visit schools, so that the experiment could be returned to the students.
"Currently, ZZŠ is currently working on the project 'PISA 2025 - science in focus', but the activities are not supported by the budget", said Pavlović.
The acting director of the Examination Center, Miloš Trivić, repeated the results of the PISA test - Montenegrin students are in 54th place in mathematics, 56th in reading, and 62nd in science.
"What is particularly worrying is that this number of points shows that our students are three to four years behind the OECD average. From 50 to 60 percent of our students are functionally illiterate," Trivić said.
Senior legal advisor at the Center for Civic Education, Snežana Kaluđerović, emphasized that the state of education is worrisome.
"To the process of healing strategically and systematically without party and particular calculations. I will remind you that the model, which enabled cheating, demotivated both teachers and students, sent a message to parents that learning is only for the grade, not for knowledge. Over time, the grade became more important than knowledge, and this is shown through poor results on the PISA test", emphasized Kaluđerović.
She warned that the General Law on Education, with minor corrections regarding the election of directors, is more than two decades old.
"I think that speaks volumes for how modern we have a form of education... The chain is not easy to break because it all stems from strong, political influence in schools. The teaching staff has lost integrity, allowing parents to put pressure on teaching. We have superficial and short-term adoption material, and critical thinking is not developed," said Kaluđerović.
MP Branislav Nenezić (SD) said that there must be some punishment mechanism for students who are below the average, even if it is not to allow them to go on an excursion.
MP Branka Marković (PES) said that we have to find a way to make it not "blam when someone is a good student".
"The status of a teacher in society has never been more difficult and dangerous. We don't question anything," she stressed.
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