Consultations on the state of education in Montenegro were held in BIjelo Polje for parents of children attending kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in that city, which was limited by the Association of Parents.
It was an opportunity for parents to be directly involved in the process of planning the reform of the education system for the period from the next year until 2035.
Consultations are organized as part of the "Quality Education for All Children" project, which is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MPNI), UNICEF, the European Union and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund.
Insufficient commitment to the mentors of students who are preparing for competitions, the abolition of psychologists in schools, the lack of speech therapists in kindergartens are just some of the information that was communicated during the consultation.
Director General of the Directorate for Pre-School and Elementary Education in the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, Svetlana Drobnjak, said that the announced education reform is an essential reform that covers a period of 10 years, from 2025 to 2035.
"60 people who have a significant place in education worked on the strategy, which is a sure indicator but also a guarantee that the strategy will be something that will fundamentally give education additional quality. The main goals that the strategy will show us are in which directions should be our reform. We expect that it will actually be a reform of what is the biggest problem for you parents," said Drobnjak, adding that the strategy includes all levels of education from preschool, primary to secondary.
She pointed out that during the reforms, they will work in cycles and that special work will be done on the infrastructural part of educational institutions, which is why they will work on a reform that will first cover the first cycle of elementary school from the first to the third grade, then from the third to the sixth, and from the seventh until the ninth grade, on which the reform of secondary education will also be based.
Drobnjak pointed out the necessity of reconstruction of existing schools, construction of new schools and kindergartens.
The Vice President of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje Tufik Bojadzic said that the Municipality of Bijelo Polje recognized that education is the cheapest investment that the state can make, stressing the necessity of involving all interested parties, teachers, students and parents in the reform process.
"The Municipality of BIjelo Polje pays significant attention to this segment and that every year they allocate funds to improve conditions and improve the education system, which are reflected in the affirmation of students through rewarding the best students, students, scholarships, and transportation subsidies. The biggest obstacle in the field of education is human factor. We have about 140 diplomas that are not regular in education, and about a thousand in total in Montenegro, so it cannot be expected that someone who obtained a diploma in an illegal way will offer quality education," he said, adding that is the abolition of the subject "Civic education" problematic.
The director of the Parents' Association, Kristina Mihailović, pointed out that the material is not attractive and understandable to students, not only in Bijelo Polje, but in Montenegro in general.
"They learn a lot of things that the children neither adopt nor know how to apply, the programs are often too extensive, and the textbooks are not age-appropriate. There are no textbooks for vocational secondary schools," she said, adding that parents have to learn a lot with their children.
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