Borko Petrović from Paraćin, who was declared the best teacher in the world last year, says that after receiving that recognition, no one from the Ministry of Education called him to come to them and include him in some programs.
"I was pleasantly surprised by some ministers who called me directly to school - I even had to check for some ministers that it was really them, that it was not a joke." They said my door was open to everyone. I said that it is strange in all of this that my ministry is the only one not calling, the ones who should really be calling, where I can really help the most is the Ministry of Education," Petrović told RTS.
He states that he has a correct cooperation with the School Administration in Jagodina and that he eagerly awaits an invitation from the Ministry of Education because he has strength, desire, and ideas.
"Somehow I took the initiative myself and for the last year I've been traveling around Serbia from my own pocket and in my car," says Petrović, "wherever people call me - it's groups of various schools who want to see me, get to know me, and ask me something."
No raise
When asked if he received a raise because he was declared the best teacher in the world, Petrović replied that he did not:
"In a system where you have no punishment for non-workers and no reward for workers, there is no motivation either." What is the motivation when we are all the same in that system?"
According to him, the motivation is internal: "When pedagogy students asked me whether a good educator is born or learned, I still had to answer that it is born."
"It is wrong to think that I don't know what kind of external motivation could influence some people in education who are simply not for that job." We have to say that as well," notes Petrović.
"Reset" at the beginning of the school year
As he said, he decided to be better after the horrific events in May last year because, as he says, he is not at his best every day.
"It is the total result, when the line is drawn." One day you would congratulate yourself, pat yourself on the back - you were great today! And once you would have slapped yourself - today you did everything wrong! So you are not the best on a daily basis. It is some aggregate result recognized by others. But what is very difficult is exactly that: to be the best on a daily basis. Try hard every day, work on it," Professor Petrović explained.
After the tragedies in May, he decided to give the world a little color, as Đorđe Balašević used to say, by painting the classroom.
"I decided that the new school year should start in a new way, with a reset, so that anything can happen." So the point was to welcome the children in a new environment. Let's start again. Let's just say things aren't so rosy, my classrooms aren't rosy either, since I painted them blue. We put in new floors, new furniture, did some new things, we wanted to show that the community can come together, that we can be together in this pain, that we can show that we're not so alienated from each other, because it kind of was what prevailed in the air - alienation. And that boy who became so alienated," said Petrović.
