History of the Serbian educational system
During the period of socialism in Serbia, the education system worked quite well. The illiteracy rate fell at this time and in addition to education for children, education for adults was also promoted. When the political conflicts in Serbia degenerated and the Balkan Wars broke out, the education system suffered. The gaps that emerged then still need to be filled today.
The school system
In Serbia, children are required to attend school for eight years. School attendance is compulsory at ages seven to 15. First, the schoolchildren attend an elementary school with grades one to eight. After that, a Serbian child can choose in which direction they want to continue their education. For example, they can attend a general grammar school, a school that is supposed to prepare them for a certain profession, or a technical school with a special focus.
Do all children go to school in Serbia?
Most children in Serbia can go to primary school. The proportion is lower for poor children, however, as a quarter of children classified as poor do not go to school. For Roma children, the rate is still low, go here only about 66 out of 100 children in the school and only ten out of 100 attend secondary school.
Because many Roma children live in poor houses and have no running water, it is often a problem with cleanliness. How can you wash yourself without water? What happens to the dirty clothes? Because the other children often abuse and exclude them in school, many no longer dare to go to school.
Many Roma children also often lack the necessary documents to register. How well education works in Serbia therefore depends heavily on the ethnicity and financial situation of the families. Check jibin123 to see schooling information in other European countries.
Universities
There are five state universities in Serbia where you can study after school. They are located in the larger cities in the country. There are also some private universities, but not all of them can be afforded because they are not paid for by the state, but have to be paid for themselves.
The Serbian universities are linked to European exchange programs, for example Erasmus. With this program, students can do a kind of student exchange and study in another country in Europe for some time.
What is “brain drain” and what does it have to do with education?
Brain drain or the English term brain drain sounds pretty gross. However, it is not to be taken literally, because all brains remain undamaged. Nonetheless, the word describes a problematic process that is particularly evident in Serbia. Young educated people are leaving the country and going to Germany, for example, to find a job or to study there.
The “brains” (brain) So stand for educated people and the word drain represents her leaving the country in question. Serbia, however, desperately needs young people with a good education, because the country is outdated and the weak economy could do well with an upswing.
Child poverty
In Serbia there is a high proportion of child poverty, one in ten children is affected. The state has few resources to support families financially. It is therefore not particularly desirable for women to have children, because there is no such thing as pregnancy care or child care for parents who go to work. It would actually be important to increase the birth rate, because the Serbian population is outdated.
Poor children suffer from illnesses and social disadvantage and have little chance of escaping the circle of poverty. In rural areas, the state has particularly little influence and poor families rarely receive state support here. That is why children in the Serbian countryside often work on farms to support their families.
Life as a Roma child
The children from Roma families have a particularly difficult time in Serbia. The Roma are an ethnic minority and are severely discriminated against and disadvantaged in Serbia. Adults struggle to find a job. Children are teased at school and excluded if they can even go to school. 60 out of 100 Roma live in slum dwellings. These are ruin-like buildings, mostly without any access to clean water or sanitary facilities such as a proper toilet.
The settlements are mostly on the outskirts of large cities. Other people just put their rubbish near the settlements. This attracts rats and mice, which then transmit diseases in the fragile settlements. At the same time, many Roma also live from the garbage. The children have little prospect of later leading a better life than their parents. Medical care for Roma is also very poor. The risk of dying before the age of five is three times higher for children from Roma families than for other children.
Children with disabilities
In Serbia, handicapped children have little chance of education or even a child-friendly life. Kindergartens and schools do not want to accept the children on the grounds that they cannot look after the children.
As a result, the children’s parents are often forced to place their children in nursing homes. Most of them are far from home and children with disabilities are separated from their families. But they are not doing better in the homes, they are not encouraged, treated questionably with medication and not integrated into society. Many of the children no longer leave these homes.
