Universities Blocked, Students in Chaos, and the State Just Watches!
Welcome to the Serbian education circus of 2023! While universities across Serbia suffer blockades that choke normal operations, Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković tries to calm the storm, declaring this the “biggest education crisis since the founding of the state.” Yes, you read that right – the biggest crisis ever!
Blockades That Just Won’t Quit
Imagine this: university buildings in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, and other cities are blocked. Students can’t take exams, and academic life is on the brink of collapse. Some universities have switched to online classes, but that’s no fix for everyone, especially faculties with practical courses like medicine and engineering.
Stanković warns this is an illegal situation and that the blockades aren’t just student protests but an “expression of institutional collapse.” Is this a fight for rights or a political game? He claims some students use the blockades to “usurp their political rights” at the expense of others.
How Did We Get Here?
Exam incidents in Novi Sad are just the last spasms of what Stanković calls a “colored revolution” mercilessly hitting the education system. While some universities like Priština in Kosovska Mitrovica and Novi Pazar have finished their semesters, others have been in chaos for weeks.
Data from the Medical Faculty shows only 3 out of 5 students registered for the colloquium exam, clearly showing organizational and motivational problems.
What Is the State Doing?
The Serbian government approved quotas for new student admissions, but without normal university operations and exams, the academic year can’t start properly. The Ministry of Education and government say funding will normalize only when the situation does, meaning blockades directly threaten university budgets.
Stanković urges rectors and deans to find a sustainable solution and unblock university buildings ASAP because debts are piling up and education is sinking into chaos.
Online Classes Aren’t a Magic Wand
Though online classes were introduced as a temporary fix, they can’t replace practical exercises and labs. Medical and technical faculties especially struggle to find suitable spaces for teaching, complicating matters further.
What Lies Ahead?
If blockades continue, the new academic year could be seriously jeopardized. Students wanting to take exams and continue their studies are trapped in this political mess. The Ministry promises things will slowly return to normal, but only if blockades end.
The Bottom Line: Who’s to Blame?
Are students right to protest, or are the blockades over the top? Are rectors and deans doing enough to fix the problem? And where is the state in all this? One thing’s clear – Serbia’s education system is under attack, and the whole country will feel the fallout.
Got thoughts on this academic drama? Drop a comment below. Is this a fight for rights or just chaos nobody knows how to fix?
Slug: blokade-fakulteta-srbija-kriza-obrazovanja
