A few days before the start of the new school year, the Government of the Republic of Serbia proposed a new set of educational laws that should be discussed in the Parliament. Amendments to some articles of the Law on the Basics of the Education System, as well as the Law on Textbooks, have been proposed.
Among other proposed measures are the introduction of a national reading book, so that from the second grade of elementary school, grades in governance are included in the average grades at the end of the semester and at the end of the year, but also the possibility of removing students from classes for a minimum of five days in case of a serious violation of obligations and behavior. Also, within the framework of intensified educational work with students, socially beneficial work should also be implemented.
Vesna Jerotijević, spokeswoman for the Union of Education Workers' Union of Serbia, about the proposed removal of students from classes for at least five days with the possibility of community service, told the portal "Vremena" that they expect that even though the student is physically removed from school, it probably does not mean that he does not have any form of teaching for at the time: "In that case, some kind of online teaching would probably have to be foreseen, which requires additional involvement of the teacher and the head of the department."
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He adds that it is not clearly defined what is meant by socially useful work. Is it work at school, engagement of students in the library, school kitchen, school yard, or does it mean some work within the social community at the local self-government level, such as the Red Cross?
Rfull professor of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Department of Psychology Dr. Aleksandar Baucal he says for the "Vremena" portal that when such measures are adopted, it is important to look at the broader context of how they can work in our society, and that "although such a measure exists in other educational systems, there is no guarantee that it will be effective in the Serbian one."
Guidelines for the new school year
The Ministry of Education recently sent to schools the Guidelines for the organization and implementation of educational work in the new school year, the main goal of which is the development of human values in students and the improvement of relationships based on mutual respect, cooperation and solidarity while respecting diversity.
Vesna Jerotijević points out that the guidelines arrived late and that there are too many general places, and that it was not specified how they will be implemented.
"You cannot expect that just one lesson lasting 45 minutes will completely illuminate that aspect of a student's personality, when our children live in a society where hate speech has become generally acceptable," she concludes and adds that the Ministry of Education in relation to the guidelines and the instructions it sent came completely unprepared by the fact that before the beginning of the new school year it made a decision on a new subject - "Virtues and values as a life compass".
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"If you introduce a new subject a few days before the start of the school year, it only speaks in favor of those who have lost their compass," says Jerotijević.
And Professor Baucal says that the guidelines are good in terms of directing attention to the necessary things, but that the problem is their implementation: "They set very ambitious goals for a very big change to happen in a large number of schools, which is to make some alienated people community."
He further indicates that for this it is necessary for the Ministry to provide a good implementation plan, as well as a lot of support for schools. "If we don't provide that support, then these ambitious guidelines will fail to change the situation in many schools," concludes Baucal.
What is necessary and what has been done?
Vesna Jerotijević says that it is necessary to network the system so that everyone can make certain suggestions and proposals. "The Finnish system is clear because schools have complete autonomy in creating curricula, programs and implementation. Get people who are experts to do it and create it, it would then have the real effect of something you want to implement. The guidelines are such generalities, throwing dust in the eyes to inform the public that something big has changed," she concludes.
Baucal emphasizes that students, but also teachers and parents, need the school to become a "positive community", and not to be a place where children will come to learn, where teachers will come to fulfill their role as teachers, where everyone will feel dissatisfied. In a situation dominated by the atmosphere that the school is like a "powder keg", it is a matter of time when the circumstances will arise for it to escalate again, and this is what has been happening to us for many years.
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