At the Faculty of Physics in Belgrade, for the General Physics course, only one freshman out of the 25 expected applied this summer. At the Faculty of Philology, also in Belgrade, 24 candidates out of 100 planned places applied for Serbian language and literature.
Young people completely disinterested in the teaching profession
These data show that a worryingly small number of students are interested in teaching majors, and nothing has been done about it for almost a decade.
Dean of the Faculty of Physics, University of Belgrade, prof. Ivan Belča, Ph.D., told the portal of the weekly "Vreme" that the teaching profession has been degraded and pushed into the background for years, which finally led to the almost complete disinterest of young people in this profession.
"This is also the reason why the number of students in our faculty, as well as in others that have teaching majors, dropped sharply compared to other (scientific, applied) majors." The state must immediately start solving this problem, systemically and without half solutions, following the steps proposed in the 'eight deans' platform", says Belca.
The "Eight Deans" platform is an initiative launched in March this year by the leaders of Belgrade faculties. In it, they pointed out the causes and possible consequences of the lack of educational staff and presented recommendations based on the experiences of countries that had similar problems, but with respect for domestic specificities.
The current practice is disastrous for upbringing and education
"As for the motivation of young people, I am not sure that most of them have a real picture of what they would study. Of course, there are also children with clear affinities and desires, but many young people actually follow trends, some occupations/faculties that are in fashion. This will probably lead to the saturation of some professions in the future, and for now it also affects the shortage of teachers", explains Prof. Dr. Belča.
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When asked what can be done at the state level, prof. Dr. Bratislav Obradović, from the Faculty of Physics in Belgrade, believes that the answer should be sought in the proposals of the Union of Natural and Mathematical Faculties of Serbia to solve the problem of teacher shortages in schools.
Greater responsibility requires greater rights
"Among other things, it is proposed to improve the reputation of teachers in society, which is achieved through improving their material position and giving them greater rights in the affairs of educating and educating students.
The current salary of teachers is below the average salary in Serbia, and teachers represent the population with higher education, which in Serbia is about 11 percent. Our schools are institutions with the most educated staff (with the exception of universities and institutes), which are very poorly paid.
For many years, teachers have been asking the state to introduce pay grades for all jobs in the civil service, but there is no understanding for that decision in the state authorities. The teacher's salary must be higher than the average salary in Serbia. The salary of teachers of deficit professions (mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists...) must be 20-30 percent higher than the salary of other teachers, as long as these professions are in deficit. Teachers should be provided with more favorable housing loans", says prof. Dr. Obradović for the "Vremena" portal.
More time for essential work with children and young people
He also considers the proposal to relieve teachers of bureaucratic-administrative duties so that they can devote themselves to the upbringing and education of students to be very important.
"As the most responsible, they must be provided with greater rights in the process of upbringing and education. The rights of parents and students cannot override the rights of teachers. So far, this kind of practice has proven to be disastrous for upbringing (and for education) and has led to a significant collapse of the reputation of teachers in society, significantly more than the material position of teachers," says prof. Dr. Obradović.
As our interlocutor says, it is also important that future teachers of deficit occupations are motivated by scholarships from the first year of study.
The educational system, due to numerous unfortunate events, but also the most tragic one, which happened at the beginning of May in "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School, was left completely bare. The consequences of bad decisions are increasingly visible, at all levels of education. In the end, only the unanswered question remains, why there is no response to the teachers' suggestions and what else needs to be done in order to understand the seriousness of the problem they are warning about.
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
