Centre for Civic Education (CCE) believes that reverting to the legal solution where school principals are appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Education is not a good move. This reinstates a previously proven harmful model of inappropriate political influence and control over the education sector’s employees, who number is over 14,000, and with their family members it represents a significant voting base for the party that holds the ministerial portfolio.
For over a decade, CCE has criticized this solution as a hindrance to the necessary qualitative improvement of the educational process and has advocated for the establishment of school boards. Unfortunately, the school boards established through previous legal amendments were not sufficiently well-defined, and there needs to be intervention to clearly stipulate the requirements that members of school boards must meet, as well as the restrictions on their membership. Additionally, the existing structure should be assessed according to categories. The powers of these boards and the penalties for members who obstruct the work of the board in any way must also be more clearly defined.
It has also been shown that the current representatives of the Ministry on school boards have not adequately represented the interests of the Government, so the selection process for these representatives should be approached with greater care.
CCE expresses concern that instead of proposing a sustainable solution to the problems in the functioning of school boards, the situation is being used to revert to an old and undemocratic solution that serves the interests of the authorities but is contrary to the public interest. We would not be surprised if, in Parliament, those who promised in their election manifestos to prevent ministers from ever again having the power to appoint and dismiss principals raise their hands in support of this solution, as it would not be the first time they have broken promises when they perceive them as threatening party interests.
However, the minimum we expect from Minister Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, for whose retention in this position we publicly advocated, is to be a barrier against the destructive party influences on an already seriously devastated education system in Montenegro. We expect the minister to influence her party – the Europe Now Movement (PES) – to withdraw this part of the proposed amendments to the Law on General Education and urgently engage in an inclusive consultation process to find a systematic solution to the challenges brought by the establishment of school boards, which were also poorly conceived by previous governments and parliamentary majorities.
CCE believes that there will be no recovery or modernization of the education system, particularly in terms of establishing critical thinking, which is the foundation of good education, without freeing the system from party constraints. Part of this democratization is ensuring that no individual ever again has the level of control over appointments and dismissals that was exercised under the previous system.
Snežana Kaluđerović, Senior Legal Advisor