Statement by the SASA Board for Education

The Academy Board for Education of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (AOO SANU) has carefully considered the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Foundations of the Education System and, based on its deliberations, has formed detailed and substantiated objections to the proposed amendments.

The following is a summary of key objections and proposals made by the Academy Board for Education of SASA:

The Academy Board for Education of SASA believes that proposed amendments to the Law on the Foundations of the Education System do not address the real needs of the education system of Serbia. Instead of introducing measures aimed at quality improvement and modernisation of education, the Draft restricts the rights and participation of students, parents and educational staff and expands mechanisms of administrative control. Particularly concerning are provisions that limit student organisation and the work of student parliaments, as well as measures that lessen the role of parent councils and introduce the possibility of revoking the licence of educational professionals.

At the same time, the Draft does not offer solutions to key challenges of education: inadequate quality and learning outcomes, weakening of the teaching profession, the need for modernisation in response to digitisation and emergence of artificial intelligence, the development of extra-curricular activities and systematic evaluation of educational outcomes.

Therefore, the Board is of the opinion that partial amendments of the Draft are not sufficient and proposes that it be withdrawn from the legislative procedure and that a new legal text be prepared, based on expert analysis and broad discussion on what kind of education Serbia needs in the following decades.