The news about the Ministry of Education’s plan to close up some smaller schools has shocked many. Cancelling those schools would mean that students attending the institutions would be left with no other choice but to pick another school to go to, probably much further away from their home.
The Ministry claims that this is only one option, though, and not a finalised decision. As planned, the heads of the schools will receive an offer to combine with other smaller schools nearby, and so save a significant amount of money, they say.
According to bumm.sk, the saved money would be added to teachers’ salaries, and with talk about hundreds of schools potentially closing up, the savings could come to around EUR 20 million in future.
Even so, according to daily Hospodárske Noviny, those who do not accept the offer will be denied further financial support. The political party Most-Híd has launched a petition against these measures, asking school leaders and town mayors in a letter not to accept the offer. The letter is signed by Most-Híd chairman Béla Bugár.
As a solution to the problem, schools would simply need more money for improving education, and this includes smaller schools also, parameter.sk cites Most-Híd education expert Erzsébet Ožvald. The Ministry insists that the plan, authored by Dušan Čaplovič, would help improve other schools and education in general, but that remains to be seen.
Closing small village schools may be a money saver but it can lead to the collapse of rural communities ( as in the UK). Before initiating wholesale closures or mergers it would be more productive to look at actual school spending and staffing levels. Teachers offices full of bespoke furniture, plasma TVs etc. when the kids have broken chairs and no books suggests that someone has got their priorities wrong. The same goes for teachers who have multiple contracts covering the same working hours.
Small doesn’t mean poor quality either. The quality is down to the staff, perhaps introducing parent governors to monitor the activities of the “little Hitler” head teachers would help.
As for funding, some revelations here paricularly regarding the Lottery. If the money isn’t going to education as stated then where is it going? Education funding in the SVK is poor to say the least but I don’t see parents demanding a more resonable spending round. 20 million sounds a lot but I’ll bet a pound to a pinch of crap that more than that could be saved by cutting non-jobs in the education ministry etc.
I agree with the move,the money is secondary,the first thing you need to think of is the education result of the student for the future and the schools in small villages can not give them that
for the fact that it can not attract the best teachers and at the young age it is most critical to have a good start,I know I came from a small village.
Oh what small village was that then K`nak …….Lilliputt ???
And pay for buses and gas and repairs and people to drive the buses and insurance cost. Just pass the cost to the average tax payer. Then you can start the lottery which will help the education for students just like the good old USA. These children are not any smarter because the government took over the education system back in the 1960’s and pocket all the money from the lottery.
Barbara thanks for the factually inaccurate sweeping statement where as in fact in the USA over 50% of public school funding comes from property taxes, of people living in the school district, the rest come from the Federal Government, but who knows maybe in some states they do use lottery proceeds to funnel into schools. But I see just two similarities between the the two countries, they are parents that would rather complain when their children don’t do homework, study and generally just don’t care, and blame the school for their children’s failing marks rather then place the blame on where it belongs on the kids. Or to be more specif on themselves for not actually taking an active role in their children’s education.
Oh come now matt, that is a little hash now?
Perhaps you did not fully read or understand what Babs actually wrote ?. In principle I agree with her, although I do admit, the comment is a quite poorly stated as a comment, thus the less able and challenged among us, would have an issue absorbing the points she makes .
Always hard to get the bigger picture, when you have such a small screen.
If you read my reply correctly you would have read that when the lottery first started most of it was to go toward education in which it never did. Yes us tax payers do get taxed for schools. And yes I have raised 6 children,all which are grown.one is a corporate business lawyer,a trucker that owns his own trucking company,a rwgistered nurse,a beautician,typesetter for a Catholic orginization and one in college. All were homeschooled by me because of the public education system. So you can not tell me I do not know what I am talking about. Oh yes I do have 11 grandchildren.
Now, now Babs calm down . Being baby producing machine hardly makes you an expert on education, just perhaps a expert on horizontal laying?
BTW ….I think the rwgistered nurse spelling, sorta blew any `education` expert idea .
So to your success stories …. a corporate business lawyer ( what a heck is that ?? ) ,a trucker that owns his own trucking company ( a man with one big van, could have his own `truck` business ) ,a registered nurse, ( a worthwhile, if poorly paid job ) a beautician ( errrr ok, I pass on any known specialist educational needs on that job) , a typesetter for a Catholic orginisation ( oh dear, has computer tech, not arrived at the Catholic Church in your area, are you still using a loom ? ) and the one in college .. (Doing what in college then , cake decoration, flower arranging ?? Not Uni student then? )
Actually, perhaps your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others, not to educate their own kids ?
George and you thought I was “hash”
Yes Mat, …..Hash ..a coarse mixture of ingredients, all in your comments/??
I was also just wondering what Babs reasoning was, of announcing her run of the mill jobs family and what the 11 grand kids and what that had to do with the price of beef here ???
However Mat, you are no longer beneath my contempt.
Wow , so Slowvak kids actually need an education to flip McD burgers, or wipe round London Hotel toilets ??????
Yes, “that’s what Slovak people do”. You are so smart…
Actually a great idea. Here in Canada the average child lives 1.5-3km from school. If the school is over 2km the schools offer a school bus. The amount of small schools in small villages in Slovakia is quite large. Offering a bus service or cheap fares on the regular bus service would handily move these kids around and you can close the schools in villages with only 25 kids.