President Vucic announces new reforms in education! Will Serbia adopt "Kazakhstan model" and what that means?

Photo: Tanjug Video

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic last Saturday presented the national development strategy Serbia 2030, and one of the central parts of the presentation was dedicated to the education system - a sector that the president referred to as crucial, but also one where Serbia has bad results that he said were getting worse.

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Education is classified as the fifth point of the ten-part plan, and the strategy foresees a total of about 220 million euros to be spent on 75 projects, which includes improvement of infrastructure and the curriculum.

Vucic particularly stressed dual education as a priority. Addressing the prime minister directly, he invited him to consider the so-called Kazakhstan model and pointed out that Serbia's results in this area are bad and are moving towards even worse — because there is a fear of the reaction which is why the country has been postponing essential changes for years.

The Serbian president mentioned the Kazakhstan model for the first time during his visit to Astana at the end of February, when he discussed the problems in the education sector with his counterpart. Over the last few years, Kazakhstanstan attracted more than 20 foreign universities that today have centers in different cities, thus becoming a regional educational hub in Central Asia.

"We made a difference compared to others through dual education. We got off to a good start, and then we were afraid of nonsensical criticism. Our ideas came down to ​​shortening classes to 30 minutes... We are behind other countries in the region, I'm ashamed to look at those tables. Because people don't seek to change themselves, some of our teachers are great, they learn, they work, but I didn't get a word about the curriculum in this program. I basically didn't see anything," said Vucic.

The president also stated that it is necessary to form not only special classes, but entire faculties dedicated to artificial intelligence, and assessed that the future of every nation will depend on that.

The critical tone towards the current state of education was one of the more noticeable elements of the presentation. Vucic said that when people talk about education sector reforms, they usually only think about salary increases - rather than about the curriculum and the children. He added that anyone who tries to introduce competition and changes into the system "disturbs the hornet's nest" made up of those who he said seek their rights only through higher wages, without making any changes.

The president said that 220 million euros will be spent on 75 projects, and listed all the places where primary and secondary schools are being built.

"Dual education is of crucial importance, I will talk about the example of Kazakhstanstan, and I ask you to consider it. Our results are bad and getting worse, Mr. Prime Minister, just so you know. What are we doing by trying to please everyone, we will not achieve anything that way, I ask you to get more involved and demonstrate that progress has been made regarding dual education. As for the Kazakhstan model, we are talking about cooperation with foreign universities, campuses, sending young people to study abroad, with the obligation to return to the country," said Vucic.

(Telegraf.rs/Zelena Ucionica)