However, the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation will not be able to choose the second-ranked or third-ranked candidate for the director of an educational institution.
That department adopted the remark of the Education Union, which during the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the General Law on Education requested that that legal provision be deleted.
The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) recently, on the initiative of the Center for Civic Education (CGO), issued an opinion on the Law on Amendments to the General Law on Education. It was established that there is still a significant area in which corruption risks have been detected, although criteria and more clearly defined procedures for the selection of directors of educational institutions have been introduced to a certain extent.
ASK is of the opinion that the latest amendments to the General Law have regulated the procedure to a significant extent, but observes that the provision stipulating that "the minister can exceptionally choose the second-ranked or third-ranked candidate from the list with an explanation of the decision" creates unnecessary space for possible discretionary decision-making that reduces the effects of the developed selection criteria.
In this regard, KAS encouraged MPNI to foresee criteria and scoring that will ensure that the final result of this process offers the most qualified candidate for the position of director.
The CGE said yesterday that they expect the ministry and deputies to act in accordance with the opinion of the KAS and initiate new changes in order to delete the provisions that open the door to corruption in education in this segment, which often led to a chain of other corrupt actions.
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MPNI did not accept the objection of the Association of Parents that, with certain improvements, the decision on the selection of principals should be returned to the school boards, as it was until the Law on Amendments to the General Law on Education was voted in the parliament a few months ago.
"Although it was proposed that before the final decision was made, the examination and testing of the candidates before a special Commission, we believe that this is not sufficient protection against future abuses and making a decision on the selection in accordance with political suitability. It seems that these possibilities have been reduced to a minimum, but there will be ways, especially for those who want it, to bypass this 'obstacle'. That's why we propose that after the public competition, which is announced by the school board, the candidates will be tested as it is now in this latest version of the law - orally and in writing before the commission formed in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, and that the final decision is made by the school board", she said. is Kristina Mihailović from that association.
The MPNI stated that the proposal was unacceptable "due to the fact that in September of this year the Law on Amendments to the General Law on Education entered into force, which provided for a different way of electing directors, compared to the previous one".
They assessed that it is necessary to give this model of selection of principals a chance, to be proven or challenged in practice, because the previous method of selection by the school board was not efficient and functional.
"According to the provisions of this Law, the director is elected based on the prescribed criteria. In the process of electing the director, a Commission is established, consisting of a representative of the Ministry, a representative of the Institute for Education, i.e. the Center and one external member from among prominent experts in the field of education for which the director is selected. The external member is appointed by the minister from the list of prominent experts. The list of prominent experts is formed on the basis of a public call," the MPNI said.
They claim that the minister "will no longer be able to choose a director on the basis of discretion, which will significantly contribute to the fact that directors are not chosen on the basis of political or other affiliation, but on the basis of knowledge, skills and competencies, which are checked in the selection process based on the Law and Rulebook".
The right to object to a third of the grades
After the public discussion, the MPNI partially accepted the objections related to the objection to the final grade, in such a way that the student, parent or guardian has the right to object to one third of the grades.
Also, it is defined that, upon objection to the evaluation, the teachers' council, within three days of receiving the objection at the latest, forms a three-member committee that will determine whether the evaluation was carried out contrary to the regulations, that is, review and re-evaluate the written or other work, or examine the student, but it is not accepted to do so within 24 hours.
MPNI accepted the objection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to include in the draft that foreigners seeking international protection, persons with approved international or temporary protection and persons without citizenship, in addition to foreign citizens who have temporary residence or permanent residence in Montenegro Gori, equal in realizing the right to education with Montenegrin citizens.
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