Public and media pressure brought on by the planned legislation of education minister Dusan Caplovic, which includes giving local authorities the power to dictate how many first year classes individual schools could open, has produced a result as the Ministry is now planning to set up a special Board for Education that will propose instead.
The change comes after minister Caplovic met with parents who had signed a petition against what they called a conflict of interests, as private, church and specialised schools would be at the mercy of regional councils, which run the state schools.
“A special board will be set up, including representatives of private and church-run schools. The board will assess each school and provide a standpoint”, ministry spokesman Michal Kalinak is cited by TASR newswire as saying. The standpoint will then be revised by the local council, however. “Some anonymous clerk from regional government will therefore not decide on the future of schools, but instead it will be the Board for Education and the local council, as elected directly by citizens”, Kalinak said.
The Association of Private Schools has around 30 fundamental objections to the Act on Expert Education and so they will meet today with the minister to discuss their proposals.
Mmmmm…. So an independant, representative Board of Education will benchmark all schools and make recommendations which can then be “revised” by the Local Authority. The same LG that gets part of its state funding based on the rolls of the schools under its control – conflict of interests? impartial decision making? So Caplovic has bowed to public pressure and ……… Private and Church Schools along with parents can have their input but the LGs will have the final say. Sounds like the same one wheeled handcart painted a different colour to me.