These are the three options of make up for missed classes

The situation differ from school to school in Serbia, but what is common to all of them is that the children have lost out on lessons, are still losing and will somehow have to make up for it, writes Blic.

And while schools are making a plan for making up lessons, there are still many unknowns in front of parents and students, and one of them is what options are possible for making up lessons.

Let's recall, Slavica Djukić Dejanović, the Minister of Education, previously pointed out that it is necessary to establish a regular work process as soon as possible in all schools that are blocked and make plans for compensating classes, so that students are not harmed.

Ivan Ružičić, president of the Board of Directors of the Association of School Directors of Serbia, explains to "Blic" what the primary goal of teaching compensation is.

"What should be the goal of teachers when it comes to teaching compensation is to work with the students on all the teaching units that are foreseen in the curriculum. This means that the students will have the required number of grades in order to propose a final grade in accordance with the grading regulations. The students will not be left without a grade and will finish the school year," he points out.

According to him, most of the schools have already submitted to the Ministry of Education the framework compensation plans that the Ministry of Education needs to approve. What is not known are the exact dates when the compensation of classes will begin.

Three options of make up for missed classes

For now, there are three teaching compensation options:

1. Intensive teaching - that the lessons remain shortened to 30 minutes, but that there are no more than eight classes per day

2. Working Saturdays

3. Extension of the school year

"Extending the school year is a real possibility, because there is room for it among high school graduates and students of the first, second and third grades of secondary and elementary schools," says Ružičić and adds that the school year can be extended by a maximum of five days, since school ends on June 20, and booklets are distributed on the 28th of June.

"At elementary schools, since they don't have that many classes, intensified work can be applied. This means shortening classes to 30 minutes, with an increase in the number of classes a day in order to cover all the teaching units and get the students the required grades. This would mean that students have six, seven and eight classes a day to make up for the missed material," he explains.

In secondary schools and gymnasiums, the situation is different.

"Intensified teaching in secondary schools is called a combined type of teaching. This type of teaching implies that within the same class, which lasts 45 minutes, new teaching units are simultaneously processed and the previous material is repeated so that the students are evaluated. In secondary vocational schools, there is the possibility to make up for part of the theoretical teaching through practical teaching. However, high schools are in a specific situation because the students are overloaded and have seven lessons each day, so it would not be possible to go for that option with the seventh classes, but with a combined type of teaching or an extension," explains Ružičić.