Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated today that it is our responsibility and obligation to continue working on education reform for the 21st century and to be brave to make changes, just like the visionary and brave Saint Sava did.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated today that it is our responsibility and obligation to continue working on education reform for the 21st century and to be brave to make changes, just like the visionary and brave Saint Sava did.
At the Saint Sava Academy called "The Treasury of Serbia", which is traditionally organised by the Ministry of Education, Brnabic pointed out that today is, among other things, extremely important for our country because every year at this time we are reminded of the importance of knowledge, education and investment in education and science.
We have set education and science as one of the priorities in the work of this government, as a driving force for the development and strengthening of the country, she said, noting that in previous years we have made numerous strides and launched important initiatives to improve the education system.
Namely, as she reminded, we introduced programming as a compulsory subject in primary schools, significantly expanded the scope of specialised IT departments in secondary schools, introduced art departments in high schools, digital textbooks and teaching aids, and this year we are completing the connection of all 1,800 school facilities to high-speed wireless internet, in which we invested €60 million.
According to her, we have also established the "My High School" Portal, where parents can now complete all the steps related to completing elementary school and enrolling in high school online.
We also continue to invest in talented young people through a scholarship program in which we annually invest more than €25 million, and this year we also started reforming the Fund for Young Talents in order to help our most talented pupils and students, the Prime Minister said.
She emphasised that to date, more than 3,000 students have completed secondary education according to the dual model, and the indicators that talk about the speed of employment and salary are above expectations.
One of the priorities in our work, as she presented, is the continuous increase in the salaries of people in education and science and the constant improvement of working conditions. Since January 2020, we have hired more than 2,500 educators and about 17,000 teachers in primary and secondary schools on a permanent basis.
Today, we continue to invest in science, research, development and innovation, Brnabic said and noted that in the past eight years we have established three new scientific institutes, as well as the Science Fund, whereby we have employed 1,951 young researchers so far, and we are in the process of employment of an additional 300.
According to her, this, as well as many other things that we have done in the previous period, gives us a chance to strengthen the most important capital that a person and a country can have, which is knowledge.