Centre for Civic Education (CCE), on the occasion of 24 January – the International Day of Education, assesses that, alongside certain positive developments, numerous challenges in the education sector present an opportunity for a critical review of the actual state of affairs and future directions of the education system in Montenegro, with the aim of further improving it.
CCE considers it important to highlight the commitment and efforts of the Minister Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, and her team, who over the past two years have initiated a range of activities aimed at improving the quality of education, both through reforms of education-related legislation and through addressing long-standing issues and launching new infrastructure projects.
However, a complex political reality often leads to the obstruction of necessary changes and the selective application of criteria and policies in this area. An illustrative example is the lack of progress in acting upon the criminal complaints filed by CCE against former Minister Bratić for the unlawful dismissal of more than 220 school principals in 2021, which caused damage to the state amounting to nearly half a million euros.
Although the level of transparency and reporting in the education sector has increased, selectivity in the appointment of heads of educational institutions remains present, as a consequence of pronounced political influence in these processes.
The fact that almost half of primary school pupils achieve excellent academic grades points to grade inflation, while the data showing that primary schools have a higher percentage of pupils with failing grades than secondary schools raises questions about the quality of early support, assessment criteria, and pedagogical practices. In such a system, there is a risk that genuinely gifted pupils may be lost in a mass of formal excellence, and that grades may lose their fundamental purpose as indicators of knowledge and competencies. More specifically, data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation for the previous school year show that as many as 46.29% of pupils from grades 3 to 9 completed the school year with excellent results, 28.08% with very good results, 20.49% with good results, 4.38% with satisfactory results, while 0.75% of pupils had one or more failing grades, resulting in an overall pass rate of 99.34%. In secondary schools, 24.62% of pupils achieved excellent results, 32.15% very good, 34.44% good, and 8.39% satisfactory results, with 0.4% failing, resulting in an overall pass rate of 99.55%.
At the same time, 2025 brought important reform-oriented steps forward. The long-awaited Law on Higher Education was adopted, introducing more flexible models of study, but missing an opportunity to democratise the University of Montenegro (UoM). Amendments to the General Law on Education were also adopted, introducing stricter provisions on the responsibility of parents, teaching staff, and educational institutions. These measures provide afoundation for strengthening quality and accountability within the system.
CCE has for years pointed to the need for diplomas to be based on knowledge, work, and merit, rather than on trade, falsification, and the mere formal fulfilment of requirements. In this context, we welcome the determination shown in combating fraudulent diplomas, as well as the Government’s decision to suspend the recognition of foreign diplomas from higher education institutions in the region that are under investigation.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to take a step further and present the public with concrete results. Although commissions have been established in certain sectors to review suspicious academic titles and diplomas, there are still no official and consolidated data on the outcomes of these processes, while court rulings remain rare.
It is also positive that the Government has allocated €500,000 to support excellence among Montenegrin citizens studying at renowned foreign universities. However, the question remains whether this support should have been accompanied by clearly defined obligations to return knowledge and work to the state that financed this education. The absence of contractual obligations to work in Montenegro after completing studies may call into question the long-term purpose of this measure.
On the other hand, long-standing problems within the academic community cannot be overlooked. CCE has pointed to cases of plagiarism and violations of ethical codes at the University of Montenegro, many of which have remained without an adequate institutional response. At the same time, priorities remain unclear regarding the allocation of nearly one million euros solely for the remuneration of members of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, given their modest contribution to reforms, while oversight of the diplomas of the highest-ranking officials is also lacking.
The International Day of Education should serve as a reminder that statistics are not a substitute for knowledge, nor does a high pass rate guarantee quality. The education system must simultaneously recognise excellence, sanction pedagogical incompetence and unethical conduct, and build a culture of accountability through sustained effort and creativity – from primary education to the highest academic institutions.