The Sanad branch of the Čoka primary school Jovan Popović is one of 2,000 educational institutions in Serbia that joined the Digital Classroom project for pupils of the first and fifth grades
Sanad’s first graders attend classes in a modern way and with electronic textbooks, which they combine with classical ones, so their learning has become even more interesting, and audio and visual effects help them to focus their attention. All this was realised thanks to a competition of the ministry, which provided the funds. The benefits are many since in this way children are also interested in new technologies.
Through the Digital Classroom Project, the state seeks to modernise classes in rural schools so they do not lag behind institutions in larger cities. The Sanad branch has 84 pupils, and the school Jovan Popović has a total of 300. When you see the children’s joy because of the fact that they acquire knowledge in this way, then you are sure that as a society and a state you are going in the right direction – says Stana Đember, President of the Municipality of Čoka.
What are the benefits of a digital classroom and how many students are interested in e-learning? How important is the fact that a small school in a small town keeps up with modern trends?
– The importance of digitalisation is immeasurable, and the Municipality of Čoka fully supports this process. That’s why we decided to compete for the funds and join the Digital Classroom project. The small school in Sanad has a large window into the world, and that is the key to all our aspirations. Although we are small and ruined, we use all the possibilities of digitalisation, which is extremely important to us.
Attracting funds from all levels of government is one of the priorities of the local government, and Čoka will seek to participate in coming ministry competitions in the domain of digitalisation
In one of the previous interviews you pointed out that, since the budget of the municipality of Čoka is modest, it is one of the priorities of local government to attract investment from all levels of government, and to participate in competitions, monitor opportunities and the like. How important is such an approach when it comes to implementing new technologies? Do you plan to compete for new digitalisation projects?
– Čoka supports everything related to digitalisation. We are members of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, as well as members of NALED, we follow and support the Office for e-Government, and we will certainly participate in some future projects in the domain of digitalisation. This position is also supported by the Čoka institutions, of which we are founders. We are grateful to the ministries for every opportunity to participate in such competitions.
How is land consolidation in Čoka progressing and what will the successful completion of this job mean in providing better conditions for new investors? What are the prospects for forming an industrial zone? In what ways are you trying to support existing businesses in your municipality?
– Land consolidation is a serious project, responsible, but also for our municipality the only way to overcome many problems and obstacles in the life and work of our community. We started this process at the end of 2017, and today I can state freely and responsibly that land consolidation is going in the direction we intended. It is still too early to summarise the results, but it is clear that the contractor and the Commission for land consolidation have been working responsibly.
Also, everything is completely transparent to the participants, which is one of the key factors in its realization. The industrial zone will be defined through land consolidation, and we are always prepared to provide space for serious investors under the legal norms.