On 21-22 February, seven high officials from Serbia participated in a peer exchange visit to the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs in Athens.

The visitors came from the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Institute for Improvement of Education and the  Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. They met their peers from the Greek Ministry and other education professionals to exchange views, experiences and examples of good practice on the inclusion of refugee children into the education system.

This  visit took place as part of the Action “Fostering a democratic school culture”, which is promoted in Serbia by the Joint European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey.

Professor Georgios Angelopoulos, Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Education, welcomed the delegation and stressed that cooperation between the two ministries in the field is of great importance.

Ms Anamarija Viček, State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry, stated that she hoped the meetings and the visit would be the beginning of a permanent collaboration.

The delegates also had the opportunity to visit a school in Lavrion to see the inclusion process in practice. They met with the school principal, mayor, teachers, parents’ representative and former and current refugee students. The programme ended with a visit to the Lavrion refugee camp.

The visit stimulated the delegates and hosts to reflect on current practices in their countries, evaluate activities, update plans and exchange ideas.

Since the inclusion of refugee children i is strongly connected with the principles of competence for democratic culture, the visit will also help the officials draw on previous work on inclusive policy and democratic school governance. Delegation members included Ms. Anamarija Viček, State Secretary, Ms.Vesna Nedeljković, Assistant Minister and Ms. Snežana Vuković, Senior Advisor from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Mr. Zlatko Grušanović, director of the Institute for Improvement of Education, and Ms. Gordana Čaprić, deputy director of the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation