The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI) has launched a series of activities to improve the quality of education over the past two years, but the complex political reality often leads to obstruction of necessary changes and selective application of criteria and policies, the Center for Civic Education (CCE) announced.
Senior Legal Advisor at that organization, Snežana Kaluđerović, on the occasion of January 24, International Education Day, said that, in addition to certain strides, numerous challenges in education represent an opportunity for a critical review of the actual state and directions of development of the education system in Montenegro.
The CCE, as she said, believes it is important to highlight the dedication and efforts of the relevant Minister Anđela Jakšić Stojanović and her team, who in the past two years have initiated a series of activities to improve the quality of education, both by reforming educational regulations and by resolving backlogs and launching new infrastructure projects.
"However, the complex political reality often leads to obstruction of necessary changes and selective application of criteria and policies in this area," Kaluđerović said in a statement to the media.
She pointed out that an illustrative example is the lack of progress in dealing with criminal charges filed by the CCE against former Minister Vesna Bratić due to the illegal dismissals of more than 220 school principals in 2021, which caused damage to the state of nearly half a million euros.
"Although the level of transparency and reporting in the education sector has increased, selectivity is still present in the selection of heads of educational institutions, which is a consequence of pronounced political influence in these processes," believes Kaluđerović.
He said that the fact that almost half of elementary school students have excellent grades indicates hyperinflation of grades, while the fact that elementary schools have a higher percentage of students with negative grades than secondary schools raises questions about the quality of early support, assessment criteria, and pedagogical practices.
Kaluđerović assessed that in such a system there is a danger that truly gifted students will get lost in the mass of formal excellence, and that the grade will lose its basic purpose as a measure of knowledge and competence.
She stated that according to data from the Ministry of Education and Science, in the previous school year, as many as 46,29 percent of students from 3rd to 9th grade graduated with excellent results, 28,08 percent with very good results, 20,49 percent with good results, and 4,38 percent with sufficient results.
Kaluđerović added that according to this data, in the previous school year, 0,75 percent of students had one or more negative grades, which makes the overall pass rate of 99,34 percent.
"In secondary schools, 24,62 percent of students had excellent results, 32,15 percent very good, 34,44 good, 8,39 sufficient, with 0,4 percent with insufficient results, with an overall pass rate of 99,55 percent," Kaluđerović pointed out.
According to her, last year brought important reform steps.
"The long-awaited Law on Higher Education has been adopted, which provides for more flexible study models but also misses the opportunity to democratize the University of Montenegro (UCG), as well as amendments to the General Law on Education, which introduced stricter provisions on the responsibility of parents, teaching staff and educational institutions," Kaluđerović stated.
She believes that this is the basis for strengthening quality and accountability in the system.
Kaluđerović stated that for years, CCE has been pointing out the need for diplomas to be based on knowledge, work and merit, and not on trade, forgeries and mere formal fulfillment of requirements.
She emphasized that in this context, CCE welcomes the determination in the fight against fake diplomas, as well as the Government's decision to suspend the recognition of foreign diplomas from higher education institutions in the region that are under investigation.
"However, it is necessary to take a step further and present concrete results to the public. Although commissions have been formed in certain sectors to verify dubious titles and diplomas, there is no official and consolidated data on the outcomes of these processes, while court verdicts are rare," said Kaluđerović.
She assessed as positive the fact that the Government has allocated 500 thousand euros to support excellence for Montenegrin citizens studying at renowned foreign universities.
"The question remains open: should this support have clearly defined the obligation to return knowledge and work to the state that financed the education? The absence of contractual obligations to work in Montenegro after completing studies may call into question the long-term purpose of this measure," Kaluđerović assessed.
She added that, on the other hand, chronic problems in the academic community cannot be ignored, stating that the CCE pointed out cases of plagiarism and violations of ethical codes at the University of Montenegro, many of which remained without an adequate institutional response.
According to her, there are no clear priorities in allocating almost a million euros just for the salaries of CANU academics, despite their modest contribution to reforms, and there is also a lack of control over the diplomas of the highest officials.
Kaluđerović said that International Education Day should be a reminder that statistics are not a substitute for knowledge, nor does a high pass rate guarantee quality.
"The education system must simultaneously recognize excellence, sanction pedagogical incompetence and unethical behavior, and build a culture of responsibility through hard work and creativity, from elementary school to the highest academic institutions," concluded Kaluđerović.
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