Prime Minister Ana Brnabic wished today all students in Serbia a happy new school year and announced that a significant salary increase in the education sector will take place as of 1 January 2020.
Brnabic, together with Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Sarcevic and Director of the Office for Public Investment Management Marko Blagojevic visited the renovated “Prvi Maj” elementary school in Vladimirovac, the Alibunar municipality, and attended the first class of the new school year.
The Prime Minister said that since 2014, the Serbian government, through the Office for Public Investment, has invested approximately €150 million in the reconstruction of 128 schools across Serbia.
She noted that at the moment, 25 schools are under reconstruction, while 50 are undergoing public procurement, i.e. preparation of public procurement.
The Serbian government will remain committed to education because it is crucial for the success of our entire society, Brnabic said and pointed out that she is pleased that the overall reform of the education system is happening in Serbia, not only in the field of digitisation, which is important.
She cited the education of the youngest for 21st-century jobs as a challenge that even the most developed countries are facing and added that we do not know what these jobs will look like as changes are happening very quickly.
I am pleased that in the first year of this government’s term we have introduced programming as a compulsory subject in the fifth grade of primary schools, and as of this school year we are introducing one of the most advanced programs in Europe in the seventh and eighth grades, the Prime Minister underlined.
According to Brnabic, in 2017, schools were connected to a secure Internet within the academic network, with an additional €20 million being invested this year to connect 500 schools to high-speed and wireless Internet.
Last year we started introducing digital textbooks. This year Serbia for the first time has 10,000 digital classrooms, covering some 200,000 students across our country. Budgeting for another 10,000 digital classrooms in 2020 is underway, and the goal is to have a completely digital education by 2021, Brnabic stated.