Education is like an enormous oceanic ship where no one can change the course quickly, even if everyone can see that they are heading for an iceberg. Enough politicians have been burned in Slovakia who have taken command, announced a new course, and started turning the steering wheel, but nothing happened to the ship.
Since 2006, most of the time Slovakia has been ruled by politicians who have emphasized the role of the welfare state. The concept of pre-election welfare packages has become more popular and has become an integral part of mainstream politics, regardless of the phase of the election cycle.
It makes a big difference whether the state directly funds the operation of restaurants or “merely” mandates the issuance of food stamps, or whether restaurants are funded by paying customers.
In Slovakia, we have a problem with the drain of the brightest young people to foreign universities. If we want to solve this problem, we need to know the causes. And we can only know these if we understand how higher education works and what its real added value is.
If a quality secondary school can produce a quality graduate in 3 years instead of 4, it will save a quarter of its costs. That means it can cut the price by a quarter!
Teachers’ salaries are a topic every year. This time, however, it is different. In addition to internal arguments about the state of education, external developments – inflation and the public deficit – also play an important role.
In Slovakia, we need more alternatives, more private schools to help all children. Especially in a situation where we have 2.6% of children attending private primary schools.
The European Commission is preparing a new regulation of internet companies called the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It is supposed to require or prohibit a number of activities from platforms, all under the slogan: “more fair, competitive and innovative business on the internet”.
Amazon is not only a large retailer, but also the creator of the digital marketplace. And on that marketplace, it allows other sellers to sell for a fee. And it also allows those who are interested to do something extra.
Last year, the European Commission came up with proposals to regulate digital services in the form of the Digital Markets Act, which has the potential to significantly change the way the internet works in the EU. We have, therefore, covered this topic more extensively and in more depth in two analyses.
