The new school year starts today, 65,000 students start the first grade

As Tanjug was told in the Ministry of Education, 240,000 students go to secondary school, of which 62,000 are first year students. 27,000 primary and 8,800 secondary school students in Serbia will attend classes in the languages ​​of national minorities.

The exact number of students will be known by the end of September, after schools have entered data about students in esDnevnik, according to the Ministry of Education.

Minister: The goal is normalization

Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković said today that everything is ready for the start of the new school year and that the goal of the Ministry is to completely separate the educational process from politics, as well as its normalization at all levels.

"Our basic message is the normalization of the educational process. That is, the teaching process in the sense of conducting active teaching. This means working with students, in and out of the classroom, checking knowledge in accordance with the curricula that are known to all teachers and all teacher councils," said Stanković.

The minister said that the Ministry of Education calls on all participants in the educational process to comply with the law and to enable a regular school year.

He stated that the key word for the education system from September 1 onwards must be normalization, more precisely the return of the educational process, primarily the teaching and educational process, to the coordinates defined by the law, as well as pedagogical norms that are known to every teacher and every director who participates in the teaching-educational process.

"Let's meet the expectations of parents, and first of all students, and understand that education is the most important social resource for the progress of this society. It's time to stop the politicization of the education system, especially of higher education, high school and elementary schools. It's time for teachers to turn to teaching, and children to learning," pointed out Stanković.

The Minister wished all students, parents, teachers and managers of primary and secondary schools a happy start to the new school year, stressing that he wishes them first of all a successful and regular school year.

"I wish you a school year in which children will acquire new knowledge, gain new skills, make friends, progress in every aspect, professors will be dedicated to their calling, imparting knowledge, encouraging curiosity, developing a spirit of community among children and finally, of course, assessing and evaluating their knowledge," said Stanković.

Free textbooks are provided

The Ministry reminds that free textbooks have been provided for certain categories of primary school students in the upcoming school year, for the purchase of which 985 million dinars were allocated.

A total of 903,525 textbooks were provided, and 96,165 students were eligible, the Ministry specifies and reminds that the Ministry has been implementing the program of free textbooks since 2011 in order to provide additional support to students from sensitive categories, as well as to support gifted students.

For the first time this year, the Ministry of Education provides free textbooks in the languages ​​of national minorities, and free textbooks are provided for 204 textbook titles for elementary students in Hungarian, Romanian, Ruthenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Slovak and Albanian for various mandatory subjects.

More than 28,000 students in 163 elementary schools will receive textbooks.

The Ministry of Education stated that in the previous period, amendments to by-laws, as well as by improving the functionality of esDnevnik and other digital tools, enabled a significant reduction of administrative duties in educational institutions, which was one of the demands of trade unions and educational workers.

They remind that new functions of esDnevnik have been introduced since April 15, which facilitate the work of teachers, and give parents better insight into the work habits and progress of their children.

The novelty is that parents will receive automatic notifications (notification) every time the teacher registers a student's absence, a new grade, as well as other notifications related to the student's work habits and achievements.

New functions have established a special portal for students within esDnevnik, where they will have insight into grades, absences, planned activities, processed teaching units, homework and written assignments, as well as other relevant information. The Ministry of Education stated that the innovation in the educational system is the use of humanoid robots, which are a didactic tool for the work of teachers in schools where children with developmental disabilities are educated.

So far, 11 humanoid robots have been acquired.