National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia / Activities / Activity details
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
24th Sitting of the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and the Information Society
At the sitting held on 28 July, the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and the Information Society considered, in principle, on the Bill on Textbooks, submitted by the Government.
Elaborating on the Bill on Textbooks, Minister of Education Science and Technological Development Dr Srdjan Verbic said that it regulates the preparation, approval, selection, publication, withdrawal and monitoring of the textbooks and textbook sets, handbooks and teaching material and accompanying teaching aids for elementary and high schools.
The Minister said that the Bill would improve the quality of the textbooks for all grades and in all teaching languages in both elementary and high schools. He said the selection of textbooks for high schools and vocational schools is almost unchanged, most of them dating back to the 1990s. In view of the above mentioned, the Bill institutes new textbook categories with the objective of boosting the quality and availability of textbooks to all students, said Dr Srdjan Verbic.
The new law will lead to a higher transparency in the textbook selection and approval process. The Minister said that the Textbook Assessors List will now be public, as well as its compilation and competence, saying that more than one assessor will be simultaneously reviewing several textbooks at a time. Verbic added that the introduction of e-supplements to the teaching materials, especially in vocational schools, is also an encouraging step toward e-textbooks.
The Ministry is obliged to issue a public invitation to apply for textbook approval every four years, and also publish a Catalogue. The Catalogue will contain textbooks on the List viz. textbooks for the same subject and same grade selected by schools attended by 5% of students of a particular generation.
“If more than six textbooks are selected by schools attended by 5% of students, the Catalogue will list the top six textbooks”, said Verbic.
The new Bill also envisions the allocation of more funds for the publication of textbooks in national minority languages, said the Minister adding that all publishers will be obliged to allocate 2% of the net profit earned from the sale of textbooks in the previous calendar year. Since this is a considerable amount of funds without which the preparation and printing of textbooks in national minority languages would be impossible, a special bill of guarantee is introduced to warrant that the publisher will fulfil his obligation, said the Minister.
“The new Bill on Textbooks achieves a savings in the family budget by introducing the textbook set, banning the inducement to buy additional teaching aids without the parents’ full consent and setting a new textbook plan which will clearly define which textbooks are truly essential”, stressed the Minister.
Following a debate, the Committee members ruled, by majority vote, to propose that the National Assembly accept the Bill on Textbooks in principle.
The sitting was chaired by MA Aleksandra Jerkov, Committee Chairperson.
The Minister said that the Bill would improve the quality of the textbooks for all grades and in all teaching languages in both elementary and high schools. He said the selection of textbooks for high schools and vocational schools is almost unchanged, most of them dating back to the 1990s. In view of the above mentioned, the Bill institutes new textbook categories with the objective of boosting the quality and availability of textbooks to all students, said Dr Srdjan Verbic.
The new law will lead to a higher transparency in the textbook selection and approval process. The Minister said that the Textbook Assessors List will now be public, as well as its compilation and competence, saying that more than one assessor will be simultaneously reviewing several textbooks at a time. Verbic added that the introduction of e-supplements to the teaching materials, especially in vocational schools, is also an encouraging step toward e-textbooks.
The Ministry is obliged to issue a public invitation to apply for textbook approval every four years, and also publish a Catalogue. The Catalogue will contain textbooks on the List viz. textbooks for the same subject and same grade selected by schools attended by 5% of students of a particular generation.
“If more than six textbooks are selected by schools attended by 5% of students, the Catalogue will list the top six textbooks”, said Verbic.
The new Bill also envisions the allocation of more funds for the publication of textbooks in national minority languages, said the Minister adding that all publishers will be obliged to allocate 2% of the net profit earned from the sale of textbooks in the previous calendar year. Since this is a considerable amount of funds without which the preparation and printing of textbooks in national minority languages would be impossible, a special bill of guarantee is introduced to warrant that the publisher will fulfil his obligation, said the Minister.
“The new Bill on Textbooks achieves a savings in the family budget by introducing the textbook set, banning the inducement to buy additional teaching aids without the parents’ full consent and setting a new textbook plan which will clearly define which textbooks are truly essential”, stressed the Minister.
Following a debate, the Committee members ruled, by majority vote, to propose that the National Assembly accept the Bill on Textbooks in principle.
The sitting was chaired by MA Aleksandra Jerkov, Committee Chairperson.