Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

study of mother tongue and elements of national
culture. Constitution guarantees the right to
education in mother tongue. In the school year
2005/06 there were 247 primary schools, which had
sections with upbringing in languages of
nationalities, with 33 415 students. Also, there were
42 secondary schools with 9 675 students. Schools
for special education (primary and secondary) had
1 418 students from minority groups and 212
students in schools for education of adults.
The largest minority is Hungarian (3.9
percent), followed by Bosnians (2.2 percent), Roma
(1.4 percent). It is estimated that the number of
Roma is far greater, which would mean that they
might be the most numerous minority in Serbia. The
number of Roma younger than 15 years of age is 32
percent, which is far greater than the total number of
children of this age in the total population, at 16
percent. The percentage of Roma without primary
education is 63 percent, while only 0.9 percent of
Roma have completed higher or high education. The
data obtained in certain analyses 4 indicate that
system of education covers about 20 percent of
Roma children, and that 30-40 percent of primary
school students do not enrol the fifth grade, as well
as that Roma are the majority in special schools.
Without a greater participation of Roma in the
educational system and a decrease in unemployment
rate, it is impossible to come out of extreme poverty
that now plagues this national minority. According
to information obtained through the MICS 5
research, 66 percent of Roma children enrol in
primary school, while only 14 percent of boys and 6
percent of Roma girls enrol in secondary education.
Serbia has a population of 40 054 Vlachs (0.53
percent of population), who are also a group with
exceptionally low level of education. A total of 70
percent of Vlachs have not completed primary
education, while only 2 percent have completed
higher or high education.
It is necessary to prepare and implement a
number of measures that would allow greater
participation in all levels of education, primarily of
Roma children and children from the Vlach national
minority.
8.1.4. Education of children with
developmental disorders
The law on the educational system refers to the
education of children with developmental disorders.
Education
There is no reliable data on the number of these
children. There is no precise information on the
number of kindergartens that have special sections,
which provide education to children with
developmental disorders and difficulties. The
existing system of educating children and young
people with special needs is organized in three basic
forms: schools for pupils with developmental
disorders, special sections for those children in
regular schools and sections in regular schools, in
which children with developmental disorders and
difficulties are schooled together with other
children. In the first two forms the system is
organized so that children with the same type of
disability are placed in special schools or sections.
In Serbia, in the 2005/06 school-year, there were 49
special primary schools and 25 special secondary
schools, as well as 90 regular primary schools and 6
regular secondary schools with one or more sections
for children with developmental disorders 6 . Other
children with a disability or some other type of
special needs are placed in the classes of regular
schools together with other children, but without an
adequate support.
Inclusive education is still at the level of pilot
programs. In addition to raising awareness of all
stakeholders for an inclusive approach to
education, it is necessary to ensure adequate
financing, premises and staffing.
8.1.5. Quality of educational
attainments
International and national studies of pupils’
educational attainments, as one of indicators of
effectiveness of education, point to an insufficient
grasp of functional knowledge necessary for
participation in educational process and further
schooling. Results of our fifteen year olds at the
international PISA/2003, PISA/2006 and
TIMSS/2003 tests are under international average set
at 500 points: PISA/2003: mathematics 437 points,
reading comprehension 411 sciences 436; PISA
2006: mathematics 435 points, reading
comprehension 401 sciences 436 and TIMS:
mathematics 477 points and sciences 468.
Results of different studies of educational
outputs provide a solid basis for decision makers to
improve educational policies.
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