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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia's education system will not undergo drastic changes

Belgrade, 13 May 2004

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said last night that the Bill on amendments to the Law on education, adopted by the Serbian government and forwarded to the Serbian parliament for immediate discussion, will not bring drastic changes to the educational system.

Serbia's education system will not undergo drastic changes

Labus told the state-run Radio Television Serbia that the first grade of the elementary school has been reformed and that that changes will be applied in practice, while the reform of the second grade will not be implemented because the necessary preparations have not been made. The new textbooks have still not been prepared, and teachers have not been trained. Labus said that the seventh grade should also be reformed, but the plan does not exist and therefore cannot be applied.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Bill mandates the setting up of a national education council, which will have greater jurisdiction than the previous one. Apart from the educational strategy, the new council will prepare curricula and textbooks. It will set standards and have many more functions.

The council will include people who know what education means and who will be authorised to be at the head of that system, Labus said, adding that the national education council will be elected in the parliament. The first task of the council will be to work out an educational strategy, which currently does not exist.

Speaking about the sugar affair, Labus said that the police findings indicate that some domestic sugar refineries exported sugar which was previously imported from the European Union. These allegations must be investigated thoroughly so that the preferential rates for the sugar export could be returned to Serbia.

Labus said that the announced rise in the prices of electricity and petrol will not trigger inflation growth, adding that inflation rate for this year will remain within the projected 8.5 percent.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the cooperation with the Hague tribunal is Serbia's legal obligation, adding that it will be continued following the formation of a national council for cooperation with the tribunal.