On Wednesday, October 14th, we held the second in a row public forum on voucherization of education. After Belgrade, this time we spoke to citizens of Niš about our policy proposal and the general condition of education in Serbia.
At the beginning of the forum, Miloš Nikolić, president of Libek, familiarized the audience with our work so far and with the essential goal of our proposal. Milan Ćirković, our long-standing expert associate, talked about the low quality of education and absence of reforms in this sector. Some of the factors which he stressed are the negative influence of media which advocate and encourage non-scientific view of the world, irresponsibility of previous Ministries as well as unwillingness to adequately resolve numerous affairs in education. Mihailo Gajić, program director of our Research Department and the author of the research on voucherization, presented an overreaching proposition of how vouchers would work in reality.
In the discussion that followed after the presentation in which a number of elementary school teachers participated, as well as a representative of school management, the audience was especially interested in questions of existing examples of a voucher system, problems concerning information on the quality of different schools and whether this approach would lead to decrease in school politization.
We will continue organizing public forums and debates in other cities in Serbia, and we will particularly strive to introduce this model to relevant professional association and to a great number of parents.