After this number of criminal charges, verdicts that in three cases resulted in prison, I don't think anyone will dare to go and forge a diploma or trade a diploma like before, said Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, on Boje jutra on Vijesti Television.
She said that preventive action is necessary to prevent forgery or trafficking of diplomas in the future.
The Minister said that in 2023, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI) submitted 28 applications, in 2024 38, and this year nine applications.
"It is not at all pleasant to be in the prosecutor's office and give statements when it comes to forged diplomas. I hope that this will be a message to everyone who intends to deal with forging educational documents or buying them. I think that the prosecutor's office has started to do its job in this area. We already have a certain number of verdicts, some of which relate to suspended sentences, some to prison sentences. I believe that these sentences should be made stricter," said Jakšić Stojanović.
She said that an interdepartmental working group proposed to stop the recognition of diplomas from six higher education institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and this was adopted by the Government.
"After that, we also stopped the recognition of diplomas from Tutin as of 2019. An analysis is currently being carried out to see which other educational institutions should stop recognition," said the minister.
She also said that the Education Reform Strategy for the period 2025-2035 applies to all levels of education, from preschool to higher education.
"The strategy defines four strategic goals. One of these goals relates to infrastructure, which is the fourth goal. In Podgorica and on the coast, we have big problems when it comes to inadequate conditions. We have schools in Podgorica like the 'Štampar Makarije' school, which works in five shifts, the 'Oktoih' school, which works in seven shifts, so in such conditions it is very difficult to talk about any improvement in the quality of the educational process."
She added that over 45 million euros were invested in infrastructure last year, and over 145 million will be invested in the next two years.
She said that the first goal of the Strategy is to improve the quality of the teaching process so that education is of high quality, inclusive and accessible to all.
"The second strategic goal relates to the professional development of teachers," said Jakšić Stojanović.
She said that there is a huge discrepancy between the success that students achieve and the results in extracurricular subjects and PISA testing.
"For this reason, we have changed a lot when it comes to PISA testing and external high school graduation. For the first time last year, we had a realistic situation, realistic results," said the minister.
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