While thousands of students filled the classrooms of the city schools in Bar this September, in the villages, incomparably fewer students were looking forward to the first day of school - five first-graders enrolled in the "Đerđ Kastrioti Skenderbeg" Elementary School in Ostros, and four in the "Jovan Tomašević" Elementary School in Virpazar.
Fewer children in villages, lack of facilities, living conditions and emigration are just some of the reasons why the number of students attending these schools is decreasing year by year. There is also a lack of funds for the roof of the school in Ostros, but also to enable students to attend events and tournaments.
Principal of the Primary School "Gjerg Kastrioti Skanderbeg" Sami Dodic He told "Vijesti" that five new students enrolled at the school this year - four at the main school in Ostros and one at the regional branch, assessing that, unfortunately, the number of students has been continuously declining in recent years.
Last year, the branch office in Arbneš was closed, while this year, due to a lack of new students enrolled, the branch office in the Ckla settlement was also closed. Dodić says this is an indicator of the broader demographic problem facing the area.
The school currently has a total of 56 students, divided into 10 classes. The number of students is decreasing year by year, says Dodić, which is especially noticeable in rural and remote areas.
The decrease in the number of students also brings with it the problem of organizing the teaching staff because, according to the principal, when classes are closed or the number of classes is reduced, some teachers become redundant.
"For teachers living in this area, an additional problem is the fact that, due to the low quota, they would have to travel to the city and work only part of the working hours, often for very low salaries," he told the newspaper, adding that in such conditions it is difficult to expect anyone to be motivated in the long term to travel daily and work for, for example, half of the quota.
Therefore, the problem of the number of students is much broader than statistics alone, he emphasizes - it directly affects the survival of the school, the teaching staff, and life in this part of the Bar municipality.
The roof is leaking, there is a shortage of teachers.
Asked about the conditions in which the school is welcoming the new school year and whether there are any infrastructure or personnel problems that should be urgently resolved, Dodić replied to "Vijesti" that the school is welcoming the new school year in very good conditions.
He points out that it is modernly equipped, that they have quality IT equipment and new school furniture, the heating system functions well, and a new van has been provided for transporting students.
In the previous period, the entire locksmithing of the school building was changed, which significantly improved the living conditions of students and employees. They are especially proud of the library, which has more than 10.000 books, as well as the school museum, which represents a valuable part of the cultural and historical heritage of this region, as Dodić says, adding that, however, they also have problems:
"As far as the school's equipment and teaching conditions are concerned, the situation is very good. However, we have one infrastructure problem that needs to be solved - the roof of the school building is leaking. On this occasion, we have contacted the relevant ministry with a request to resolve the problem and we expect that a solution will be found in the coming period."
When it comes to teaching staff, most of the teachers come from Vladimir and Ulcinj, most of the teaching is covered by professional staff, but currently for certain subjects - CSBH language and literature, physics, computer science and art, they do not have teachers with appropriate qualifications, "which is a consequence of the small number of classes and the specifics of working in a rural environment."
"However, we try to organize classes so that students do not feel the consequences of these circumstances. What is especially important to us is that children from the village have the same opportunities for quality education as children who attend schools in Bar or Ulcinj," emphasized the school director.
One of the main challenges in everyday operations is the distance and dispersion of the settlements, because their students come from different villages and hamlets, so the organization of transportation is of great importance.
The school has a school van and student transportation is organized regularly, which greatly facilitates their daily work, but the fact is that this is a large and geographically dispersed area, so transportation requires good organization and daily engagement.
They have many invitations to participate in competitions, projects and other activities and they try to enable students to be part of these events. However, the problem is financial possibilities, because the school does not have enough of its own funds for all the activities, while other sources mostly provide what is planned, including transportation of students between home and school.
The school cannot do it alone.
Speaking about the biggest problem they face, Dodić emphasizes that it is not just the school, but the demographic picture of the entire area.
The teaching conditions are very good, he said, and pointed out that they try to offer students much more than classic teaching, so they implement various projects and activities throughout the year, of which he highlights "Science is Still Cool", which they implemented in June and which enabled students to learn about science through a practical and different approach.
However, as he said, the school alone cannot stop the process of emigration and the decline in the birth rate: young people in this area have difficulty finding employment and therefore leave, most often to Ulcinj and other cities, but also abroad.
"When young people leave, it is natural that the number of children also decreases, so the problem deepens further," he said, adding that lifestyles have also changed - families are becoming smaller, the cost of living is significantly higher than 20 or 30 years ago, and there are few young people who see their future exclusively in agriculture, livestock farming or other traditional jobs.
An additional problem is the facilities for young people, Dodić said, because in smaller communities there are not enough extracurricular and social activities like children have in Bar or Ulcinj, so there are not enough sports training, cultural facilities, cinemas, parks and other places for socializing and spending quality free time.
That is why the school believes that the solution must be broader and long-term, so it is necessary to create conditions for young people to stay and have jobs, infrastructure, facilities, and prospects for life in this area.
They are given hope for the future by ongoing projects, primarily the construction and improvement of road infrastructure on the Ostros-Vladimir route, as well as the opening of the Ckla-Zogaj border crossing with Albania.
Dodić says he thinks that better connectivity of this area with surrounding towns and Albania can bring new opportunities for development, employment and the retention of the population.
"It is especially important to invest in teachers. A school in a rural area must not be viewed in the same way as a large city school when it comes to standards, teacher travel and teaching organization. It is necessary to find models that would enable professional staff to remain available to students in such environments," he emphasized in an interview with "Vijesti".
Every student is important.
The best thing about the school in Ostros, according to the principal, is that it is small and that everyone knows each other. He says that because of the small number of students in the classes, teachers have much more time to devote to each student individually, to monitor their needs, interests and progress.
"Our school is, in a way, one big family. There are no big divisions among the students, the children know each other and help each other, and problems like peer violence are not something we face in the way that sometimes happens in large schools," said Dodić.
This is perhaps the greatest "everyday charm" of that school - every student is known by name, every teacher knows the family the child comes from, and they can notice much more easily when a student needs extra attention or support.
What makes their school special is the closeness, because Dodić says that "in a large school, a student can be just one of hundreds of students, while at our school every student is important and noticed," and he thinks that this is a value that should not be underestimated.
Their desire is to preserve the sense of community and family, despite all the challenges they face, but also to provide children with as many opportunities as possible to learn, travel, compete, socialize, and get to know the world outside of their place.
The school in Virpazar needs passages through Sozina
This year, only four first-year students are enrolled in the "Jovan Tomašević" Elementary School in Virpazar, while there are a total of 53 students.
Principal Miodrag Šćepanović told the newspaper that the school has been completely renovated and that they have excellent working conditions.
They have two school vans that transport children and have no problems with that, but the biggest challenge is that all teachers are travelers and come from Podgorica, Golubovci, Sutomore and Bar.
"The Bar municipality has approved 30 passages through the Sozina tunnel, and it would be good to increase the number of passages, because we have nine workers who come to school from the Bar area, and trains often run late, so we are forced to come to work by car," said Šćepanović.
He said that the best part of his time at their school was the nature that surrounded them and the small number of students per class (no more than eight students), so the teachers could give them a lot of attention.
According to him, the emphasis is also on extracurricular activities because they have a folklore section led by Dražen Kaljević, and students participate in various events in Virpazar and Bar.
"This school has produced a lot of educated people, which shows that we have an exceptionally high-quality teaching staff and we take great care of all aspects of quality education," Šćepanović pointed out.
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