Centre for Civic Education (CCE) is expressing concern about the fact that the number of growing “Luča” diplomas is inconsistent with the results that Montenegrin pupils have on PISA tests, which also question their credibility.
As a reminder, during the PISA testing, Montenegro was on 59th place out of 70 in science, 53rd out of 70 in reading, and 52nd out of 70 in mathematics. Montenegro is amongst the worst categorized countries, below 450 points. In fact, the middle category is between 450 and 500, and the best ones are over 500 points.
Inflation of straight A pupils is a long-standing problem of the educational system in Montenegro, which is the consequence of the fact that the race for grades and parents’ pressure on the teaching staff have suppressed the adequate assessment of pupils that should be knowledge-based.
On average, in the last five school years, in elementary schools in Podgorica and Tuzi, over 15% of pupils or 1,844 of them were holders of “Luča” diploma, often with departments in which those pupils are majority.
Situation is similar in secondary schools, where there are 1, 159 “Luča” diplomas in the last five years in gymnasiums in Podgorica and Tuzi and in secondary vocational schools, i.e., 10.93% of those who enrolled in the fourth grade in all schools, with the remark that gymnasiums have the largest number of “Luča” holders.
The CCE urges the authorities in the education system to closely analyze this disbalance between the number of “Luča” holders and the relevant mechanisms of checking pupils’ knowledge, among which the PISA testing is certainly one of the most important one. We will not gain anything as a society if we keep the problems under the carpet or cover them with “Luča” diplomas.
Snežana Kaluđerović, the Senior Legal Adviser