In international IT circles, Aleksandar Kavčić is known for numerous patents. In Serbia, he has been trying to patent another idea for years - free textbooks in schools. Because of those attempts, the authorities put him on the list of enemies, and he was sued unsuccessfully. That, despite everything, he stands for true educational values, was recognized by many who wanted to help the teachers on strike in recent weeks. Namely, at least 20.000 of them were left without part or all of their salary because they stood up to fight for their own demands, as well as those of the students.
"WEATHER" Foundation "Alek Kavčić", whose founder are you?, collects money for educators who received drastically less pay or no pay at all in March. Why?
ALEKSANDAR KAVČIĆ: Actually, the idea of collecting money for people who have lost their wages is not mine. However, people from several different spheres contacted me almost simultaneously. The boys and girls from the IT Network for Student Support were the first to do it. As we have been working with teachers who use our free textbooks for years, they thought that the Foundation knew teachers who would primarily need financial help. Just one day later, Iva Draškić, the dean of the Faculty of Philology, called me and asked if the Foundation wanted to get involved in collecting aid, and on the same day I received an invitation from the Forum of Belgrade High Schools, an organization that brings together a large number of teachers who do not teach classes. It turned out that they all recognized us as natural partners who could organize fundraising.
It was also important to them that through us, because we are registered in APR, payments can come from individuals as well as legal entities, with credit and other cards from the country and from abroad. Thus, the range of opportunities to which interested parties can donate money for aid is significantly expanded. I am also among the ten biggest donors. There is also the basketball player Miroslav Berić, who sold his very valuable jerseys, and of the companies, United Group and SBB paid the most money.
How is the fundraising going?, but also the payment of this form of solidarity support to teachers?
In two or three weeks, we collected 85 million dinars, of which 72 million were paid to the accounts of 5.000 teachers. Money is running out, but this is only the first round of payments for the most vulnerable educators, especially since higher education institutions have also been affected by this retaliation. According to my free estimate, about 20.000 people from education did not receive their salary.
It is very important - and this is not talked about enough - that other employees in educational institutions do not receive their salary. It is not only the lecturers who have lost money, but also non-teaching staff such as cleaners, janitors and other employees, which is unbelievable. The foundation did not choose the teachers who will be the first to receive the money, but the most vulnerable teachers, who need the money the most, came forward through the IT solidarity network, and the circle will continue to expand.
How would you evaluate the government's move to cancel the salaries of disobedient educators?
I don't know if there is any country that is so ready to retaliate against its own population. I have never seen such a level of malice and enjoyment of one's own people. It only shows us that students and other citizens would not trample Serbia for months in search of justice out of pure peace, but that they are doing it because something big is not good in this country. I have been active in the field of education for three or four years, and I have been saying all the time that there is enormous corruption in this area. Textbooks are sold at prices that are five times higher than they should be, and only companies that are networked with the state operate in this area.
Corruption also played an important role in the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad. Do you see a connection between the sector in which you are engaged or others in Serbia??
16 people died in the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad. It itself cost several times more than it should have, so the question arose as to how long we as a society will tolerate such a level of corruption. There is also nepotism, unprofessionalism and incompetence of people who charge a fortune for their services, and who get jobs, who work unprofessionally, only because they are connected to the state. This is how the government behaves in construction, and it is identical in education. That's why it doesn't matter if it's a bridge, a canopy or a textbook - the procedure is the same. Building permits are obtained through the queue, and the same is true in the field of textbooks. The only difference is that the textbook, no matter how expensive it is, won't directly kill anyone if it falls on their head. However, the long-term consequences of bad and overpriced textbooks that are not written in Serbia, but in other countries, and here are often just translated, are unfathomable.
Why are the most persistent in dissatisfaction this time, precisely the educators?
Serbia is a unique case in the world that the rebellion started precisely from education. From students, even pupils in primary and secondary schools, then their teachers and professors. I believe that it happened because we live in a society where learned man has been denied for years, and people succeed with plagiarism instead of diplomas. And not to succeed, but to become ministers. Isn't that the absurdity of the Enlightenment? Many young people in Serbia study honestly, and when they graduate from university, they cannot get a job because someone else has an advantage. When you do not value a learned man for so long, who depends only on his own thinking for his existence, he becomes a modern proletarian. Once it was a working-class rebellion, now it's education.
Student protests were the last straw for educators. They have been neglected for 15 years, paid below minimum standards, below the level of humanity. We all know that construction workers without school days are significantly better paid. For more than a year, teachers have been fighting and negotiating with the state to get the level of the national average salary. The state promised them that in 2023, but in the end it didn't give it to them. The conditions in which they work are also very important. With the Foundation, I have been visiting small towns in Serbia for years, as we donate computers to rural schools. In many schools, there is only a field toilet, so the student has to leave the building and step into it, as well as wash his hands with half-frozen water. Local self-government should also take care of all this, and we all know that it is made up of appointed party cadres who put money in their own pockets. I can't say, I met honorable people in several municipalities where SNS is in power. But there are very few of them.
How much will the collected money mean for the further struggle and rebellion of the teachers?
The struggle and rebellion of the teachers does not depend on the help of the Foundation or anyone else. They feel the struggle and rebellion and still continue. I believe that elementary school teachers will go on a 30-minute legal strike in the coming period, and that the struggle will continue in secondary schools across Serbia. Teachers are people who should have enough integrity and their messages should not depend on finances. Nevertheless, through the solidarity network, we hear incredibly serious and terrible stories of people who dare to come forward for financial help. These are educators who are seriously ill, the entire teacher's families are at risk, then there are even three generations of single parents - these are the teachers who educate students on one salary and also help their elderly parents. I don't know how to describe my admiration for those people, whose existence is threatened by not receiving a salary. Many of them are willing to continue the fight because they realize that this level of corruption and fraud simply cannot be tolerated by anyone.
I cannot believe that other employees in the public sector, who are significantly better paid, including the police, army, health and public companies, have not shown enough solidarity. Probably because many of them go to party stands during working hours. The question is where are the EPS workers, postmen and miners? Why didn't they get up this time but left all the education that is already full of problems.
How far have you come in the fight for free textbooks??
That famous Textbook Law was written, which is being amended only to allow corruption to continue. And in that atmosphere of fear from the minister and the principal, teachers and parents must not accept a textbook that has not been imposed on them. Only three percent of schools in Serbia learn from our textbooks, which are offered practically at the price of printing. The parents of those students showed that they do not have to participate in corruption.
That's how school books are still bought at huge prices. Even now, when it is announced that we will introduce free textbooks - as the City of Belgrade did - the question is whether people are aware that these textbooks will be paid for by taxpayers. We will see how the next school year will be, and these days that is exactly what is being decided. Even if the government announces that textbooks are free, the price at which the state buys them from companies it closely cooperates with, domestic or foreign, will still be five times higher. All this will be found on the taxpayer's account.
