Mass dropout of schoolchildren from Ribnikar

Mass dropout of schoolchildren from Ribnikar

Minister of Education Prof. Dr. Slavica Djukić Dejanović spoke for Blic about the recommendations that the Ministry of Education gave to educational institutions before the beginning of the new school year and how much the tragedy that happened in the elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar" affected the change in the education system.

Minister says that Serbia is still recovering after the severe tragedy that happened on May 3 and that in the middle of August of this year, recommendations were sent to schools on what the new school year should look like.

The Prime Minister's office, together with the Ministry of Education and the Institute for Mental Health, worked on guidelines for the first days of the school year to be educational, she pointed out, adding that children and teachers must talk, not just study.

In this sense, we have given a whole set of proposals and that each school adapt it to its needs, says Djukić Dejanović.

The first week was thematic, which means that students and classmates chose the topic of that week to discuss, and the topics, in short, were the environment, dignity, stop violence.

Children from Ribnikar started school year at Fruška Gora

She reiterated that educators are the ones who create the future for our children, so she referred to the tragedy at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School and their start of the school year.

"We spent a lot of time with those children. The children first went to Fruška Gora a few days earlier, they chose the teachers they thought should be with them, and there were psychologists with them. The children cried there, talked and started new school year with memories and plans for the future. They say that it meant a lot to them," said prof. Dr. Djukić Dejanović.

She points out that there is a larger number of students who decided to withdraw from Ribnikar, 60 students did not go to school, but went in nearby schools, but the usual number of first graders enrolled.

Teachers are in particularly difficult situation, they must come to work well prepared. For a time, they felt completely alone, for a time we had a problem that no one wanted to be the principal of that school. Just uttering the word "Ribnikar" was like a mine, said Djukić Dejanović.