Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stankovic he stated that his department is "thinking aloud" about shortening lessons in schools from 45 to 30 minutes due to the phenomenon of "diffuse attention" in children.
Minister states that, due to new technologies, children cannot concentrate for the entire 45 minutes that classes now last, and that this is a problem that has been discussed for some time.
"I think there is some kind of psychological justification. It is that precisely under the influence of these new technologies, you have the phenomenon of diffuse attention. You cannot be focused on one subject, but simply move very easily from one content to another," explained Stanković.
There will be other measures.
Vuk Stanković believes that such a decision would lead to a number of other reforms in the education system.
"We are listening to various arguments for and against. After that comes the practical part, which involves the institutional reorganization of class schedules, the allocation of teaching staff and perhaps the admission of new people, because there will be more classes. There are a lot of intermediate steps until it takes off, but in any case we may start with a pilot program, because changes in education must be rational," says Stanković.
In addition, a partial or complete ban on mobile phones in schools is being considered.
"There is a survey that was conducted internally among children, and that is that they are not against the ban, but it is just a question of whether it should be partial. That they should be allowed to communicate with each other and of course with their parents during the holidays," says Stanković.
The lesson time cannot be at the center of reforms
Snežana Romandić from the Union of Trade Unions of Belgrade Schools tells "Vreme" that she hopes that this is just an announcement of extensive reforms that are necessary in order to adapt education in Serbia to the needs of the modern child.
"It is necessary to adapt plans and programs, not to the duration of 30-minute classes, but to the needs of students for the 21st century with all the new technologies. It is necessary to conceive the teaching differently, and then consider what is most adequate for the duration of the class. Would it be a block or individual classes, what would be the weekly class fund, what is the student's workload and so on. The child must be the focus of what the reform of the class duration should bring," says Romandić.
Speaking about the possibility and ability of the Ministry to implement such a broad reform, Romandić points out that it is a "big cake" that hardly anyone wants to take a bite of.
"We have schools for which students and parents will say: 'Well, every school is certainly no longer useful'. But in order to restore primary functions to schools, a comprehensive reform is needed. It is necessary to reduce the number of students in classes, consider inclusion, and many other things. The timing of the lesson itself cannot be at the center of those future reforms," concludes Romandić.
That's a cut in half, not a third
Former Minister of Education Srđan Verbić told N1 that not much can be done in 30 minutes of class.
"It would really cause damage, even if the teachers would adapt. It is not a reduction by a third, but by a half, because time passes in class while the children calm down," says Verbić.
He adds that there are no studies that would support the minister's claims about the reduction of attention, but also that the relevant institutions were not consulted when considering shortening the hours.
"This is a big change, and no one mentions the institutions. The National Education Council has not met for seven years to do what it is supposed to do, to think and propose things like this," he says.
The story about that is just spin.
The president of the Independent Union of Educational Workers of Serbia, Dušan Kokot, told N1 that this is not an attempt to improve education, but a simple spin.
"This topic is another one of those that has been thrown at us so that we can talk about it, but I don't see anything being done to enforce it," he says.
He also states that the potential application of such reforms would put professors in an unenviable position.
"Whether the curriculum will be reduced, the state is not saying that. What will happen to the workload of the teachers? Do they want to solve the problem of missing staff? If so, why don't they hire new people first?" asked Kokot.
