Almost every second elementary school student and every fourth high school student finished the last school year with excellent results, but those grades, as "Vijesti" interlocutors warn, do not reflect actual knowledge.
According to the data of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, the school year 2023/24. 23.794 students finished the year with excellent results.
"While 13.918 ended the year with very good, 9.873 with good, 2.036 with sufficient and 203 with insufficient success", they specified for "Vijesti" from the department headed by Anđela Jakšić-Stojanović.
They noted that the above data do not refer to the first cycle of primary school, "bearing in mind that descriptive assessment is applied to these students".
According to them, 5.986 high school students achieved excellent results at the end of the previous school year, while 7.455 students received very good results.
"There were 7.696 good students, 2.115 were good students, and 155 had insufficient success," said MPNI.
As "Vijesti" previously wrote, the school year 2023/24. about 4.000 students - foreign citizens - graduated, and more than a quarter of them are honors.
"In the previous school year, 1.110 students achieved excellent results, 1.021 very good, 1.061 good, 364 sufficient and 71 insufficient results. In the 2024/25 school year. foreign citizens attending secondary school, 279 students achieved excellent success, 332 very good, 363 good, 90 sufficient and 30 insufficient", said MPNI.
Vukićević: It would be said that we have no equals
A lot of excellent ones also worry the employees of schools.
"The number of excellent elementary school students is alarming, and based on such results, it would be said that we are the smartest nation on earth," the director of Podgorica Elementary School "Vuk Karadžić" told "Vijesta" Budimir Vukicevic.
According to him, the educational system in Montenegro is collapsing through unscrupulous and patterned grading.
"We need to put our finger on our forehead and ask ourselves. Education is living matter. There is talk that we will take over the Swedish model of education. It is obvious that our current one did not prove to be good", Vukićević said.
He notes that the countries of the European Union (EU) have a clear model of education, which, he says, is available to everyone - students and adults.
"Thanks to this model, a useful member of society is created. A child of 15 is not equipped to live here. As far as the education system in Montenegro is concerned, the primary school is where most of the work is done. Everything else, I can freely emphasize, is some kind of oscillation. When it comes to faculties, you can see for yourself that a diploma can be easily bought", points out Vukićević, adding that it is necessary to introduce and implement regular testing of students' knowledge.
"Such a large number of excellent students, even the 'Luča' diploma itself loses its appeal. We should devote ourselves to ensuring that children are trained for further life. I know that excellent success is the wish of some parents, especially those who have not achieved anything when it comes to science. They demand too much from children. They hire private teachers, they are in the race for more perfect young people, but that's not it," he says.
Vukićević emphasizes that it is necessary to urgently make more fundamental changes in the education system.
"We are not an unintelligent nation, but we have many smart people. I understand that we emulate the programs of other countries, but I am against all that. We are not a big destination, and neither is the population...", he said.
Kaluđerović: Systemic pressure
Senior legal advisor at the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Snezana Kaluđerović she told "Vijesti" that practice has shown that Montenegro has a model of an educational system that focuses on quantitative, not qualitative, results.
"This has also led to the overproduction of university students, because previous excellent or very good grades are generally a requirement for admission to studies. All this creates a vicious circle, which spins the systemic pressure to increase the number of excellent students, and there is no coverage in terms of quality, which would be behind the majority of excellent grades", said Kaluđerović.
She emphasized that the results of the PISA test for 15-year-olds, as well as other competitions, testify that the quality and quantity of excellent students are inconsistent, as well as that excellent grades do not reflect the real knowledge and competencies of students.
"Instead of developing their creative and analytical capacities, it seems that the ambitions of various actors influence students to be directed towards 'mechanical' fives, and these are the least ambitions of students. "In many cases, students get high grades because they are good at rote learning, and what is missing is building their ability to connect the acquired knowledge to real life and problems," she said.
Montenegrin students achieved the worst result in the past decade on the PISA test (Program for International Student Assessment) for 2022. "Vijesti" previously announced that 62-year-olds ranked 56nd in scientific literacy, 54th in reading, and XNUMXth in mathematics. PISA is a ranking system of educational standards for fifteen-year-olds, introduced by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)...
Kaluđerović pointed out that a large number of excellent high school students can point to the fact that "the evaluation system in high schools is somewhat stricter or that the competition among students is greater."
"Therefore, given the set criteria, grades are assigned less. Of course, it should be borne in mind that students are then at a sensitive age, which has an impact on motivation if they do not have adequate family support. The programs are more demanding and students are often selected according to abilities and orientations for what they want to study. "Students of high schools and vocational schools of certain courses often face more rigorous exams, while students of schools with specific profiles/trades may have easier conditions," she said.
We must have valid classes for foreign students
Kaluđerović explains that in the case of students - foreign citizens, we should not ignore the fact that language barriers affect the assessment of their abilities, if there is no appropriate preparatory teaching.
"Foreign students and parents who attend public educational institutions do not go through a sufficient number of preparatory hours for teaching in Montenegro or do not go through it at all, and this has its consequences on their achievements. In 2022, the CGE appealed to the then Government and the competent Ministry to adopt guidelines, recommendations and an action plan for primary and secondary schools that will help teachers and professional associates to facilitate the process of including vulnerable groups of foreign student-refugees in schools, and their parents in local communities", said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".
According to her, the CGE emphasized that examples of good practice should be used and the experience of countries in the region, such as Croatia and Serbia, should be followed.
"For example, the Ministry of Science and Education together with the Education Agency of the Republic of Croatia already in the spring of 2022 passed official documents, i.e. guidelines and the Decision on conducting preparatory classes of the Croatian language for displaced students from Ukraine, while the Ministry of Education, Science and of technological development of the Republic of Serbia brought a Manual for schools in the implementation of professional instructions for the inclusion of refugee students/asylum seekers in the education system. In Montenegro, it is unknown whether the Government adopted this document or whether it is left to the discretion of the implementers whether to apply any of the Manuals for schools in the implementation of the professional instruction for the inclusion of refugee students/asylum seekers, which were adopted by the countries of the region in cooperation with UNICEF. said Kaluđerović.
The institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms announced at the end of last year that it is necessary for students from abroad to go through preparatory classes, in order to alleviate, first of all, the language barrier.
From that institution, after a self-initiated tour of several educational institutions in Podgorica, Budva, Bar, Tivat..., they warned that these children do not know the language well, which is why educators are facing serious problems.
According to information from the institution of the Protector, the largest number of foreign children are enrolled in kindergartens.
At the time, the protector was also of the opinion that greater support is necessary for children who have language barriers. Enlighteners also need more support, they said.
"During the tour of the municipalities, the protector noticed that the largest number of foreign children were enrolled in schools/kindergartens that have a pronounced problem of overbooking for a long period of time due to insufficient space and personnel capacities. We remind you of the provisions of the Law on Basic Education, which stipulates that the Ministry designates a school that has the material, spatial, personnel and other conditions for organizing classes for students who join classes for the first time and do not know or do not know enough of the language in which classes are held ", it is stated in the defender's opinion.
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