Rebellion in Serbian society, which has not abated for 14 months, began in education. They started it students which were soon supported by teachers and professors. At one point, all held universities were blocked. The government reacted to it as if it had been scalded, as an attack on the regime from within, within the state system.
Rebellious teachers and professors spoke at meetings, left the classrooms, protested for their own rights, but also for everyone else's rights, and for that they were often punished. Cancellations, "potatoes" on the account, suspensions, intimidation, misdemeanor charges against higher education institutions, extraordinary inspections, tire punctures on cars, the appointment of a new minister who is often called the "minister of revenge" by the employees of education, insults on the regime media.
The series is long and continuous, and the last case took place at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, where an associate professor Jelena Kleut the employment contract was not extended. Such a decision revolted the students, who have been boycotting classes for several days since then, and the announcement that a new blockade will begin caused the dean of this faculty to once again call the police for help and, as part of the academic community claims, violate the university's autonomy.
How the government is fighting against rebellious teachers
That the devil had taken the joke was soon shown as teachers and professors massively supported student and student protests and blockades after the deadly Eaves drop Railway stations in Novi Sad.
Thus, in January of last year, numerous teachers in primary and secondary schools did not enter the classrooms due to the sudden shortening of the first semester, fighting for their own rights, but also supporting those they introduce to the world of knowledge. It was like that on blocked faculties. And in order to clip their wings and suppress the rebellion, the government decided to cut their salaries - through performance-based payment and changing regulations.
At the end of winter and in the spring of last year, those who refused to hold classes in protest were left without pay. Dozens of teachers later, at the beginning of the new school year, lost their jobs, while unqualified personnel took their places.
The most obvious example took place in Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium, whose students went into a blockade at the beginning of the school year, demanding, among other things, a competition for the selection of a new headmistress. The Ministry promised it, but did not announce it, at least until the end of January 2026. Moreover, the current acting director Danka Nešović received the Svetosava AwardFor loyalty, I guess.
Photo: FoNet/Nebojša JovanovićLarge protest of educators in Čačak in 2025
Awards for the most loyal
And while some university professors, such as employed at the State University in Novi Pazar, remained without work, promotions and rewards came to the most loyal.
That's right, with Director Pete, Patrick Dryde, the dean of Novi Sad DIF, once a famous judoka, who stood out last year as the dean who first called the police on students, received the October Award of the city of Novi Sad, and his newly founded association received funds for projects from the budget.
A big manhunt was and is being waged against the Rector of the University of Belgrade Vladan Djokic, who from the very beginning publicly supported the students and spoke at the protests they organized.
And the leaders of the government, led by the president, announced Aleksandar Vučić and the redirection of money from the budget intended for higher education to private universities, because the state ones cannot be brought under control.
Nothing new in the Serbian public
This government did not invent this way of fighting against educators. She just took it over and extended it. There are numerous examples, both domestic and foreign.
The most drastic example on the territory of today's Serbia, and then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, happened in May 1998, when the "Government of National Unity" (SPS-JUL-SRS) proposed and the Assembly adopted the Law on the University, which de jure abolished the autonomy of the University, so hundreds of professors were left without their chairs because they refused to obey the regime of Slobodan Milošević. Then rectors and deans were replaced, and prominent intellectuals and social critics were removed from the university.
The initiator of that law was the then Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Šešelj, so it was called "Sešelj's Law". At that time, Aleksandar Vučić was still practicing his radical craft with his political father.
Among those who were punished or expelled from the faculty were professors who openly criticized the government, participated in civil protests or refused to sign loyalty to the politics of the time. Their places were filled with suitable personnel, often without a scientific reputation, while the "disobedient" ones were declared as technological surplus, retired early or sent into oblivion.
McCarthy and goulash
Vučić's regime has someone to look up to.
In the USA, professors were under attack in the so-called In the McCarthy era of witch-hunting, fear and self-censorship, when the country was gripped by the fever of fear of communism. Many universities forced professors to sign declarations that they were not members of the Communist Party. Those who refused, or who were suspected of being leftists, were fired. The madness that got the name "McCarthyism" lasted for several years, and when it was all over, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy was put on the pillar of shame.
In the east, things were even more difficult for those who did not agree with the ruling matrices. While in the United States they were fired, in China or the Soviet Union those who protested were sent to the gulag.
In the new era of Serbia, there are no gulags and, at least for now, the passing of laws that would enable a purge at universities, but quieter, administrative repression is used. Non-renewal of contracts, financial extortion, disciplinary procedures, inspections and public smear campaigns.
The case of Jelena Kleut, pressures on professors in Novi Pazar, punishments for teachers who supported strikes and blockades, as well as the police at faculties, are part of the same threatening matrix.
