Brnabic said that they have gathered today to discuss a topic that she considers to be one of the most important in our country, which is support for the education system and further investment in the education system, support for all schools in all local self-governments, both in the most remote municipalities and the largest city in Serbia, teaching staff, from educators to professors. "The key is to support all children in the education system, and today will shed a special focus on how we support the most talented, children with exceptional abilities”, said Brnabic at the opening of the Conference.

Brnabic said that in addition to being the National Assembly Speaker, she also chairs the Committee for the Rights of the Child and as part of the work of the Committee for the Rights of the Child, she said that she would specifically deal with this topic. "Because I think that we, as a country, certainly cannot allow, and we are not that rich, nor is any other country in the world, not to invest more in education and to give these especially talented children and young people with exceptional abilities, the appropriate support and that at the end of the day, we all benefit from that support in the future, every member of this society. Even when I was in the government for over two years, we worked on the establishment of a unique education information system, the so-called ISPA, so that for the first time we would have all the data about our educational system in one place," she said.

She emphasised once again that this is a topic that is important for the entire society and as such extremely important, enough to be one of the fundamental topics in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. "And on the basis of professional instructions and then further through the analysis within the unique educational information system, we saw that the results are already quite obvious. In December 2022, we had 535 students recognised as gifted, i.e. children with exceptional abilities, in primary education, who were educated according to the individual education program for gifted children. In this school year, there are already 1,339 elementary school students. So, we have already made that jump from 535 to 1,339, and I really think that this is commendable and we should continue like this," said Brnabic.

She said that a significant change has also taken place in secondary education. "In December 2022, a total of 52 high school students attended classes in accordance with the individual educational program for gifted children. In this school year, there are 238. Most of them are in the first grade of high school, namely 113. And, of course, through the Unified Information System of Education we can also monitor the specialised classes for our exceptional students and open them up to the general public. The specialised classes for computing and information technology are much better known. Many of us talk about them, but, on the other hand, I think it is equally important that we succeeded to create specialised classes for those gifted in art," said Brnabic. She emphasised that at the moment there are 112 secondary schools, 50 art schools and 62 grammar schools. "We have 826 specialised classes and almost 15,000 students attend them, i.e. 14,375. In the meantime, we created the 'Generation’s Top Competitors' platform to reward primary school students who achieve results in republican and international competitions. In the seven years that I was Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, it always seemed to me that we really did a lot," she said. As she emphasised, Serbia awarded 112 students with the highest results at the republic and international competitions, who completed the eighth grade of elementary school in the previous year. She also emphasised what the next steps are. "We have noticed significant progress, that is, in terms of recognising students with exceptional abilities, however, we have seen that there is a lack of support for recognition and continuity during the transition from the fourth to the fifth grade of primary school or when enrolling in secondary school. Unfortunately, we do lose some of them in the system, and we should not. We currently have 375 students in the secondary education system who were recognised as talented in the primary but not secondary school. So it is clear that we have left some children out. I think this is something we should work on together," she said.

At the end of her address, Brnabic reiterated that as the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, she wants this institution to take a much more active part in these matters. "Education is one of the things on the agenda of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, in which we will focus more on especially talented children, from poor, remote local governments, because we have not had that opportunity before now. It is our duty and obligation to amend that," she said.

In addition to Brnabic, the Conference was also addressed by Minister of Education Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, Minister of Sport Zoran Gajic, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation Jelena Begovic and State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Miomir Djordjevic. The Conference was organised at the initiative of National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic.

Source: TANJUG