The bell will ring today to mark the start of classes in 163 elementary schools and 52 high schools. Around 70.000 elementary school students will return to their desks, of which nearly 8.000 are first-year students, as well as around 27.000 high school students.
The beginning of this school year will be marked by a public lesson for educators, during which, as announced by the Education Union, teachers in schools across the country will express their protest against the centralized calculation of salaries.
The workers' organization claims that the transition to centralized calculation has reduced teachers' salaries by at least 10 to 50 euros, while the education and finance departments emphasize that institutions have previously calculated teachers' salaries differently - some legally, and some illegally.
Minister of Education Anđela Jakšić-Stojanović recently announced that it fully supports the centralized salary calculation implemented by the finance department and that from the first day of its implementation it has had a clear position - there are no and cannot be any discussions or negotiations regarding the implementation of the law.
She, however, said that she had instructed the Prime Minister Milojko Spajić a proposal for amendments to the Sectoral Collective Agreement for Education (GKU), which would increase the allowance for class teachers from ten to 12 percent, and allowances for higher positions by 0,2 percent.
According to the school calendar, winter break begins on Saturday, December 27th, and ends on Sunday, January 18th.
The second semester begins on Monday, January 19th and ends on Friday, June 12th, 2026.
For senior high school students, the second semester lasts shorter - it begins on January 19, but ends on Tuesday, May 19, 2026.
According to the School Calendar, classes are organized in a five-day work week, and exceptionally, in the case of making up a teaching day, they can also be organized on Saturdays.
Summer vacation begins on Saturday, June 13th, and ends on Monday, August 31st, 2026.
"For students who have concluded an individual education contract, the time for organizing practical education is carried out in accordance with the law and individual education contracts," the document states.
It is planned that testing of student achievement at the end of the second cycle of primary school in English will be organized from May 4 to 15, 2026.
The external assessment of students' knowledge in Montenegrin-Serbian, Bosnian-Croatian language (CSBH) and literature at the end of the third cycle of primary school will be held on April 28, 2026, and the semi-matriculation exam in Albanian language and literature is scheduled for the same day.
The mathematics test for high school graduates is scheduled for April 29, 2026, and the test for the subject of the student's choice is scheduled for April 30.
The final and professional exams in CSBH and Albanian language and literature are scheduled for April 15, 2026.
The final exam in the first foreign language will be organized on May 13, 2026, and in mathematics (analysis with algebra) on May 26, 2026.
The subject of the student's choice, namely professional theory, is scheduled for June 5, 2026, and the issuance of diplomas for the matriculation and professional exams is planned no later than June 22.
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