18 October 2018 - Pursuant to amendments to the General Law on Education in Montenegro the first Quality and Talent Fund was set up in 2017, which is planned to ensure that the best students and teachers are awarded and that tuition and working conditions in schools are improved. The financial resources for the Fund are provided from the budget and relocation of assets within the departments.
The long-awaited Quality and Talent Fund that was established last year finally became operational. It will allocate funds for talented students, high school students, the best teachers, and schools for which financial support is most needed.
The Fund will provide financial support for students from primary and secondary schools, as well as for primary and secondary schools that need support the most. Some of the basic requirements for gaining financial support from the Fund are scores and results of pupils within the schools and successes at national and international competitions. When it comes to the allocation of funds to schools, it will be taken into consideration whether the institution has the opportunity to realize its own revenues, whether it has already received a lot of funds from the Ministry, whether it is an institution that has pupils who have won prizes at national and international competitions, and the focus will be on schools in less developed municipalities.
The largest part of the necessary financial resources for the Fund is provided by a more equitable distribution of the incomes in the education system. The Montenegrin Ministry of Education expects that in this way they will provide about 1.5 million EUR, which is the largest amount that this country has ever drawn for this purpose. This is, therefore, the best confirmation of the commitment of the Government to not only reward best students and teachers but also to promote their good performance.
A tender for the allocation of funds from the Quality and Talent Fund was announced at the beginning of October. According to the reports, the reward amount will vary from 500 to 2,000 EUR. The Ministry of Education has announced that the Fund will provide 470 rewards, of which 200 will go to the teachers, 200 to pupils with good results at their school and around 70 to pupils who received state and international awards for their knowledge in competitions organized by the Examination Centre of Montenegro.
The Commission in charge of evaluating received applications will consist of 12 members, 4 of whom will be the representatives of the Ministry of Education. Other Commission members will be representatives of the Parents’ Association, Trade Union, professional associations, as well as the president of the Union of High School Students, two directors of schools, and the representatives of educational institutions, such as: the Education Office, Centre for Professional Development, the Examination Centre and the Ministry of Education.
