STA, 11 July 2022 - A total of 5,194 final-year secondary school students or some 95% passed the national school-leaving exam, known as the matura exam, which is close to last year's 97%. Eighteen students scored all points and three students passed the international matura without losing a single point.

Secondary school students were also joined in the exams by those who attended the matura exam courses and some adults, so in total 5,288 candidates passed the tests or 94.4% of all who took it for the first time. Last year the share was 96%, show data released by the National Examinations Centre on Monday.

A total of 302 students passed the matura exams with flying colours, the same as last year, while the number of candidates that scored all points is up by three compared to last year.

The international version of the matura exam was organised at three schools in the country, with a total of 66 Slovenian students and 29 foreigners taking it. 52 students passed it with flying colours and three Slovenians scored all points. Last year, ten Slovenians scored the maximum number of points.

Meanwhile, the national school-leaving exam for vocational students was passed by 7,116 or just over 91% of students, which is slightly down from last year's 94%. A total of 296 students passed it with flying colours, while last year the number was 552. This year 93 candidates scored all points, while last year this number was higher as well, at 179.

The matura exam is a test that serves as an admission to higher education. The autumn exams will take place between 24 August and 3 September.

STA, 6 April 2022 - Several hundred scientists gathered in the centre of Ljubljana on Thursday to protest against the transformation of private educational and research institutions into public entities eligible for public funds, a policy they say is driven by political interests rather than expert judgement.

"We cannot consent to the duplication of activities and irrational spending of hard-won funds via alternative routes instead of regular routes applicable to other scientific institutions," said Martina Lukšič Hacin, one of the Scientific Research Centre at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU).

The protest, organised by the Chancellors' Conference and Coordinating Body of Slovenian Research Institutions, comes after the National Assembly passed in mid-March a bill transforming the Pomurje Academic and Science Union, led by an Education Ministry state secretary, into a public institution.

Just a week later, the government endorsed the creation of Rudolfovo, a research hub in Novo Mesto seen as a key step in the creation of a new public university in Novo Mesto run by staff with close ties to the government.

And today the National Assembly was due to vote on the transformation of a Novo Mesto faculty into a public institution, another planned piece of the Novo Mesto university, a step which has been temporarily derailed by a referendum motion lodged by the opposition.

The organisers of the rally demand that autonomy of science be respected, they want the National Research Agency, where there was recently a change of ownership, to have a "politically independent leadership", and they demand transparent distribution of public funds.

Gregor Majdič, the chancellor of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia's largest public university, expressed concern about the formation of new public institutes and regional universities without any analysis or consultations.

"Slovenia still invests the lowest share of public funds in all of EU in science, development, innovation and higher education. We have to ask ourselves whether we are rational and responsible in the distribution of funds that are low as it is."

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport responded by pointing to an increase in funding for science and research. It said this year they would increase by EUR 44.3 million or 13.7% to EUR 369 million, which was up 21.8% compared to realised funding in 2021.

The funding is to increase by an additional 7.2% in 2023 to EUR 395.6 million.

It said the goal was to earmark 1% of GDP in public funds for science and research with an annual growth rate of 0.08% of GDP. It added that budged funds for science wound double by 2025.

So far there have been 16 science and research institutes in Slovenia, of which 15 in Ljubljana and one in Koper, the ministry said, adding that only decentralisation in the field could activate as much potential as possible and create conditions conducive to applied research.

"The fear of the scientific research community that the creation of a new public research institution would jeopardise its current or future material situation is thus completely unnecessary, all the more so as funding for science will only increase in the years to come," the ministry's release reads.

STA, 6 April 2022 - The National Assembly endorsed an opposition bill on the status of university students that will raise state scholarships by 20% by 2024, increase funding set aside for the construction of student dorms, and raise meal subsidies.

Another notable feature is that a large share of income earned through student work and scholarships, up to the level of minimum wage, will be exempted from means testing.

There are also provisions on assistance to special-needs students, according to Speaker Igor Zorčič.

The bill was tabled by five opposition deputy groups and was initially rejected by the government, but Education Ministry State Secretary Mitja Slavinec said amendments attached on committee made it acceptable.

The legislation was confirmed in a cross-partisan vote. Several deputy groups said it was a long overdue improvement for students that would make their studies easier.

In a separate vote, the National Assembly endorsed a bill to equalise the minimum gross hourly pay for pensioners with the minimum rate for student work.

Pensioners will thus get the same rate as students for work they are allowed to do after retirement, though the net pay will be slightly different due to differences in contributions.

The rate has been set at EUR 4.49 net for pensioners, which is 29 cents more, as the coalition rejected the idea of the original proponents of the bill, the opposition Left, that the rate should be equal on a net basis.

STA, 1 April 2022 - Currently, 268 Ukrainian children are enrolled in 113 Slovenian schools. Next week, they will be joined by the children staying at the Logatec and Debeli Rtič refugee centres. According to Education Minister Simona Kustec, schools have shown a great deal of understanding and care in accepting the new students.

She thanked all head teachers, staff, children and their parents in Grosuplje today for "understanding how important it is to open the doors of schools to give children the opportunity to socialise in a safe and warm second home".

The Education Institute has drawn up additional guidelines regarding the inclusion of Ukrainian children to schools, which Kustec said would be forwarded to schools next week.

Next week, the number of Ukrainian children attending Slovenian schools is to raise to 366 as the children from the Logatec and Debeli Rtič facilities are enrolled in education as well. In Logatec, there are currently 125 children, some of whom will attend the primary school in Horjul due to limited capacities in Logatec.

Some schools are also full on the coast, so children from Debeli Rtič will go to the near-by Ankaran as well as Hrvatini primary schools.

Ukrainian children attend school all over the country, but most of them are in central Slovenia, Primorska in the south-west, and Podravska and Prekmurje in the north-east.

Currently, most children from Ukraine attend the primary school in Ormož, where many Slovenian companies cooperated with Ukrainians.

All Ukrainian children are entitled to a free school meal and free textbook rental.

At the beginning of the school year, 228 children from Ukraine were enrolled in Slovenian schools, as their parents already lived in Slovenia.

Currently, seven students attend four secondary schools in Slovenia.

Ukrainian children have also access to public music schools, which are currently attended by four Ukrainians. 42 Ukrainian children attend Slovenian kindergartens.

The University of Ljubljana, the country's largest, said in a press release that there are currently 38 Ukrainian students studying at their faculties.

For the 2022/2023 academic year, the university has received 150 applications for enrolment from Ukraine, with the greatest interest in the Faculty of Medicine.

Ukrainian students can also study at the University of Maribor.

STA, 16 March 2022 - A total of 87 school children from Ukraine have found refuge in an aliens centre in Logatec. The state is now looking for solutions to integrate them in the education system as soon as possible, Education Minister Simona Kustec said as she visited the centre on Wednesday.

Kustec held a meeting with the head teachers of three primary schools in the area and the director of the local kindergarten on how to integrate the refugee children.

"Our basic duty is to take care of their well-being, which also means providing for the educational process," the minister told the press after the meeting, noting that the schools had already received the first guidelines on how to start the integration.

She said this would be a difficult task, in particular in Logatec, while adding that "we need to approach the children and their mothers in an appropriate manner and start gradually introducing them into the system."

The head teachers of local primary schools noted that experts would have a say in how the children would be integrated, adding that it was important that mothers or legal guardians of the Ukrainian children applied for formal refugee status.

This is a prerequisite for them to become part of the formal education system. "Until the legal status is regulated, the focus will be on the emotional integration of children," said Jure Kramar of the Tabor primary school.

"They will first be given the chance to attend after-school activities ... maybe a camp will be organised to try to make them forget about the war," said Kramar, who thinks that the Ukrainian children are not yet ready emotionally to enter the Slovenian school system.

Karmen Cunder, the head teacher of another primary school in Logatec, added that the children only wanted to return home as soon as possible, so it was important to keep them in touch with their school system.

She thinks that they need education in their native language and socialising with their peers outside the accommodation centre, so distance learning from Ukraine should be organised on the premises of the primary schools.

There are another 50 Ukrainian school children elsewhere in Slovenia who are being integrated in the school system, Minister Kustec said, adding that the ministry was in touch with individual schools and that the procedure was running smoothly.

The Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), the state-owned bad bank, has meanwhile offered three buildings in its ownership for the accommodation of refugees from Ukraine, with the government assessing two of them as suitable.

These are office buildings in Velenje and in Celje, BAMC said, adding that the facilities would be equipped by the Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants, with all costs to be covered by the state.

STA, 9 March 2022 - Close to 40,000 teachers and other staff at schools, kindergartens and universities across Slovenia are expected to go on strike on Wednesday to demand higher wages as well as bonuses for extra work during the Covid-19 epidemic.

Due to the general strike, schools and kindergartens will be closed but day care will be organised for the youngest children whose parents have nowhere else to take them.

Lectures, research and other activities will also be suspended at higher education institutions. "The only exception is pre-scheduled exams and diploma presentations, clinical training vital to patients' health and meetings to discuss strike demands," the Higher Education Union has said.

Staff at kindergartens and primary and secondary schools will strike at their workplace and their union SVIZ urged them to gather in front of schools or in schoolyards at five minutes to noon and turn their backs in a show of discontent.

SVIZ declared the strike after its members as well as non-teaching staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of the industrial action.

They set eight strike demands, the most important of which they say is signing a deal with the government to get paid for the extra work and exposure to virus during the Covid-19 epidemic, and higher wages for all staff working in education to make up for the disparities created after other sections of the public sector secured rises.

The government says the strike is unwarranted arguing that the average wage bracket of teachers is above that for groups of employees such as soldiers, police officers and nurses which had already secured rises.

On the eve of the strike, Education Minister Simona Kustec said they were willing to discuss systemic solutions and reform of the public sector pay system with the unions but the government had made a commitment not to place additional systemic burdens on the public finances ahead of the election.

The ministry also said that kindergartens, primaries and music schools received more than EUR 149 million for Covid-related bonus payments from October 2020 to June 2021.

Considering the great number of institutions where the staff opted for the strike, SVIZ boss Branimir Štrukelj says the industrial action "cannot pass off without causing problems in particular for the parents of kindergarten and primary school children".

He appealed to parents to support them in their demands, while denouncing the Education Ministry's instruction to headteachers that they should guarantee a minimum teaching process during the strike as unlawful. Unlike in healthcare, the right to strike in education is no way limited, the unionist said earlier this week.

However, the ministry invoked an article in the strike act which says that public services need to provide minimum activities during a strike necessary to keep people and property safe and allow work elsewhere to go on.

SVIZ says the strike would continue until their demands are met, although schools will only be closed on Wednesday. They are planning to meet next Monday to decide whether to resume the action under this government or break it off and resume talks with a new government formed after the 24 April general election.

STA, 2 March 2022 - Universities decided on Wednesday to join the general strike in the education system scheduled for 9 March after a list of their demands had been ignored by the Education Ministry for over a month.

Much like school and kindergarten teacher, professors at universities are unhappy with the public sector pay system after the government decided to offer doctors a higher top pay bracket.

They also want better working conditions and an overhaul of rules on working from home, being on stand by, and extra days off for working in dangerous conditions like in healthcare.

The Higher Education Trade Union sent a list of its demands to the ministry over a month ago but received no reply. Since the 30-day deadline for responding to such initiatives expired, the only response is strike, the trade union believes.

It pointed a finger at Education Minister Simona Kustec and State Secretary Mitja Slavinec, saying they were again ignoring the needs of higher education.

"The only appropriate response to your ignoring of legitimate proposals by our trade union, to your harming of public higher education and to corruptive provincialism is a strike in higher education," the trade unions said in an open letter released yesterday.

The strike will be conducted in line with the law. The pedagogical and research processes will be suspended and libraries closed.

Only exams scheduled beforehand and presentations of theses, and clinical practice crucial for patients' health will still be conducted along with meetings and sessions dedicated to strike demands and the situation in higher education, the trade union said.

Primary and secondary school teachers and kindergarten staff announced a general strike for 9 March on 18 February. They demand higher pay for teaching and non-teaching staff alike plus bonuses for extra work connected with the Covid-19 pandemic.

STA, 18 February 2022  - School and kindergarten teachers will start a general strike on 9 March after the members of the teachers' trade union SVIZ overwhelmingly endorsed the action. The union demands higher pay for teaching and non-teaching staff alike plus bonuses for extra work connected with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"We knew that employee dissatisfaction was widespread, but the result nevertheless surprised us," SVIZ secretary general Branimir Štrukelj told the press on Friday.

SVIZ sent out questionnaires to all of its 32,000 members plus other staff. It received responses from almost 41,000 staff, of whom more than 90% voted in favour of the strike.

Schools will shut down when the strike starts and will remain closed until the union has reached a strike agreement with the government, though Štrukelj said the exact scope of the school closures will be adjusted as necessary after the first day.

"The first day of the strike is 9 March, we wish it will also be the last day of the strike," Štrukelj said.

He is convinced the mass support for the strike is the result of the government's "utterly disrespectful attitude to the extreme efforts that employees have been investing in keeping kindergartens and schools open" during the most recent wave of Covid.

The government should now form a task force to respond to the union's demands. "As far as we are concerned, we can start negotiating this very moment, the ball is in their court," he said.

The action was prompted by the government's decision to offer doctors a higher top pay bracket, which has angered other public sector trade unions.

Nurses and workers in social services staged a one-day strike earlier this week for the same reason.

Štrukelj said the latest data on public sector wages showed that the work of educators was being "systematically devalued" as wages in education have grown by far less than in some other segments of the public sector.

"The fact that nobody wants to talk to us despite this was simply the final straw."

The Education Ministry expressed regret at the decision given that talks are still ongoing. It said the action was "unnecessary" given that schools had received additional staff to cope with the extra workload and that hazard bonuses to the tune of EUR 70 million had so far been paid out to staff.

STA, 29 January 2022 - The share of primary school children who are distance learners because they refuse to comply with Covid restrictions in schools is declining. However, there are at least dozen cases where parents decided to sue schools over the enforced pandemic rules.

The share is now 0.84%, meaning 1,625 students, down from 3.61% last November, when self-testing was introduced in schools. The figure has been steadily falling since then, the Education Ministry has said.

In line with the guidelines issued by the education authority last November, students' knowledge can only be assessed at school during distance learning.

"If a pupil is not graded, they will sit examinations in accordance with relevant regulations. Pupils may take part in school assessments only if they meet the conditions laid down in the decree," the ministry has told STA, referring to the government decree putting in place Covid restrictions in schools.

A number of parents who do not want their children to self-test in classrooms three days a week are suing primary schools since they believe their constitutional rights are being infringed.

The ministry has been so far notified of twelve such cases. "The lawsuits are filed at the Administrative Court and so far all the proposed interim injunctions that have already been decided by the court have been rejected. In three cases, the suits have also already been dismissed," it said.

In all the cases, the State Attorney's Office has taken over the legal representation, which made it much easier for the schools involved to deal with the legal proceedings.

Some schools in Ljubljana have refused this option as their lawyer has been provided or paid for by the school's founder, the Ljubljana municipality, the ministry added.

STA, 18 January 2022 - The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport has introduced a separate quota for the enrolment of Slovenians without Slovenian citizenship in universities in Slovenia. The separate quota has been advocated by Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch, who has welcomed the change.

The relevant rules have so far stipulated a joint quota for Slovenians without Slovenian citizenship and for foreigners from non-EU countries.

According to the proponents of the separate quota, this has often made it difficult for Slovenians from the neighbouring countries and Slovenian emigrants who fall into this category to get enrolled in Slovenian universities.

Last July, the government instructed the ministry to draft changes to the rules under which a separate enrolment quota would be introduced for Slovenians without Slovenian citizenship, on an initiative from Minister Jaklitsch.

This change and the accompanying changes to the rules were published in the Official Gazette last week.

Jaklitsch said on Tuesday that the changes would enable faculties in Slovenia to "increase the number of enrolment spots intended for our compatriots by taking into account both the actual needs and, above all, Slovenia's interests."

The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad added that some faculties had already announced that they would do so.

"We are firmly convinced that it is in the undisputed interest of Slovenia that as many Slovenians from the neighbouring countries and abroad study in Slovenia," the office said, adding that this would strengthen their Slovenian identity.

As they are also expected to improve their knowledge of the Slovenian language and culture, they become informal ambassadors as they return to their home environments, while some of them decide to permanently settle in Slovenia, it added.

The office noted that the change had also been endorsed by the chancellors of the four universities in Slovenia at a recent meeting with the ministry.