News


Implementation of the project “Combating Early School Leaving in Serbia” starts

23 April 2014

UNICEF and Centre for Education Policy, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development have started the implementation of the project “Combating Early School Leaving in Serbia”. The project aims to contribute to decreasing dropout and early school leaving of children and adolescents through the establishment and enforcement of mechanisms for early identification of children at risk of dropping out, responding to this and through the implementation of efficient prevention measures and intervention at the school level. It will be implemented in 10 selected primary and secondary schools. Project activities are aimed at decreasing the dropout rate in selected schools through testing the measures for dropout prevention and strengthening schools’ capacities for independent elaboration and implementation of policies in this field. Target groups of this project are children at risk of dropping out and their parents, other children in school, teachers, local community and relevant institutions (centres for social welfare, local self-governments etc.), civil society organisations, while the beneficiary will be the wider community.

Early school leaving and dropping out of school are complex social phenomena and tackling it requires multi-level interventions and cross-sectoral cooperation. Therefore, apart from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and UNICEF, representatives of the following institutions will be involved in the project: Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Protection, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Health, National Education Council, Council for Vocational Education and Adults Education, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit and Republic Institute for Social Protection. Project Board, composed of representatives of the above mentioned institutions, will take care of the accomplishment of project goals, their compliance with other initiatives and policies, and project promotion.

The project will last until October 2016, while the call for pilot schools will be open at the end of April 2014.