The Slovak education system has a number of problems but the generally low teacher salary is not one of them. Those who claim the opposite refer to an international comparison: the share of teachers’ wages in wages of university-educated people.
Let’s look at the data – the results of this year’s Economics Olympiad organized by INESS, with over 6,500 high school students involved. We introduce 10 key findings concerning economic skills of the youth in Slovakia.
If I were the Minister of Education, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second when it comes to autonomous schools. They create a relatively small opposition among the interest groups in Education, they can achieve a lot in the long-term perspective.
Whilst universities have always been in an advantageous situation because of digital tools and lessons available online, amd thanks to the fact that university students are used to digitalization, primary and secondary schools in Hungary are still in their infancy regarding digital education.
On the face of it, COVID-19 has changed everything. Suddenly, homeschooling seems to be the new norm and many parents have to tackle a tremendous challenge for which they have hardly been prepared.
The new Slovak government brings new hopes for an education reform. Previous governments were unable to manage the ministry. They typically came up with announcements of general changes, only to get suffocated by dealing with pointless details in the end.
Quarantine increases people’s desire to study and learn. On March 25th the third national economics exam, organized by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, attracted a record number of participants (10,963). The motto of this year’s exam was “There is a human being being every number.”
With the parliamentary elections approaching, Slovakia is facing an unprecedented situation of uncertainty. The elections are held after four challenging years, marked by the murder of the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, and number of subsequent anti-government protests.
The quality of Germany’s educational system will also have an impact on its economic success. Since the German economy is based to a considerable extent on world-leading technology, a passing score can rapidly turn into rustication. Therefore, some liberal extra lessons are urgently needed.
Slovakia is a small country. It cannot afford to be uneducated. Still, the country has been sinking in the PISA rankings that measure “smartness” by comparing results of educational systems. Many small countries rank ahead of Slovakia.
