At the sitting held on 12 May, the Education Committee members met with the representative education unions created for the territory of the Republic of Serbia.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Zoran Sami, and attended by Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic and associates and representatives of the representative unions: Education Workers Branch Union “Independence”, Autonomous Union of pre-school upbringing and education, Union of Teachers Trade Unions, Education Union of Serbia, Higher Education Union of Serbia and Education Workers Union.

Opening the sitting, Committee Chairman Sami stressed that the meeting with the union representatives aims to brief the Education Committee members on the current education problems from the aspect of education employees and their unions.

The union representatives present drew the deputies’ and competent ministry representatives’ attention to some of the problems education employees face, asking the Committee members for more intense cooperation. They also pointed out the extremely low funds that the state allocated for education, the discrepancy among the regulations, the need to pass an education strategy, the adjustment of the salaries of education employees, the need to strengthen cooperation between the unions and the National Assembly Education Committee, the request to modify some of the provisions of the Collective Contract, particularly the segment relating to the rationalisation of the country’s network of schools.

Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic agreed that the state should allocate more funds for education, and that the education budget structure was very flawed. He also added that, notwithstanding, four systemic laws were passed regulating some of the spheres of education in Serbia and that union representatives took part in their drafting. He announced that two more education laws would soon be passed, the effect of which would become obvious in the coming years. He expressed belief that the Ministry would pass an education development strategy by the end of its term of office.

The Education Committee members endorsed the representative unions’ proposal to strengthen mutual cooperation on the issues they pointed out at the sitting, as well as to include union representatives in the public debate on the draft laws before forwarding them into assembly procedure. They also said that, in addition to the institutional framework, the quality of education should receive more attention.

The Committee shall vote on the proposed conclusions at the next sitting.