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AN OVERVIEW OF GENERAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN SERBIA
§ 86. Depending on the extent of disability, persons with disabilities may attend regular
or special schools. Because of the lack of equal opportunities for access to education, their
education level is as a rule worse then of general population. Later this affects their position
in the labor market and, consequently, other aspects of their life. According to PRSP, 50%
of persons with disabilities only have primary school or less, 10% have completed special
needs schools and 7% have higher education 134 . Namely, since these persons are traditionally
referred to special schools, while in the majority of municipalities and towns such school do
not exist, and for many parents it is unacceptable or impossible to part from their children to
send them to school to another town, they interrupt or never enroll their children in schools.
§ 87. The implementation of the new Law on the Basis of the Education System 135 should
contribute to systematic and institutional organization of inclusive education in Serbia.
This does not mean only the inclusion in the regular education system of persons with
disabilities or with developmental challenges, but also to the inclusion and elimination
of discrimination of Roma children as marginalized group of children and children from
rural areas who finish primary school in a lesser percentage. The Law on the Basis of the
Education System sets forth that developmentally challenged persons and persons with
disabilities are entitled to education which takes into account their educational and
upbringing needs in the regular education system, with individual or group additional
support, or in a special pre-school group or school. One form of additional support to
children is the introduction of the institute of an assistant pedagogue whose task is to
help teachers and teaching staff in school extra curricular activities. 136
§ 88. The change which this Law has brought refers in particular to the attempt to include
as much as possible developmentally challenged children and children with disabilities
into regular education system, i.e. to make sure that children are referred to special schools
only when there is not other solution. Full implementation of the new inclusive education
measures into the Serbian education system will require numerous and essential changes,
time and involvement of all the employed in the education system, as well as support of
professional community, professional associations, children and parents. This is all the
more so having in mind the results of a focus group 137 which showed that teachers and
other children’s parents show strong resistance to the idea of inclusion of persons with
intellectual disability into regular schools and pre-school institutions. Around 16% of
parents are against inclusive pre-school education.
§ 89. The unemployment rate of persons with disabilities is very high – 74.5% 138 ,
although only 20,402 of such persons are registered as unemployed with the National
Employment Service 139 .
134
2003 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of the Republic of Serbia, http://www.prsp.gov.rs/dokumenta.jsp
135
Official Gazette of RS, no. 72/09.
136
Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia, http://www.mp.gov.rs/page.php?page=142
137
The State of Children in Serbia 2006. Poor and Excluded Children, UNICEF, Belgrade, 2007.
138
Leerentveld H. et all (2006) op.cit.
139
Izveštaj o radu Nacionalne službe za zapošljavanje za 2010. godinu, Belgrade, February 2011.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - Report for the period 2000-2010 37