Project
Digital, inclusive, and transformative: Quality education for Montenegro
When
March 2024-March 2026
Where
- Montenegro (6 municipalities: Berane, Rožaje, Plav, Mojkovac, Petnjica, Pljevlja)
- 12 primary and secondary schools in total
Budget & Donor
- 500,000 USD
- Montenegro SDG Acceleration Fund (MAF) supported by the EU and the governments of Luxembourg, Switzerland, Montenegro, Austria and Ireland
Beneficiaries
- 6,000 children and adolescents and more than 300 teachers and ICT coordinators
Why
The education system in Montenegro is faced with long-standing systemic weaknesses that limit children's and adolescents' capacities to learn and thrive in a modern, digital world. Many of them, especially in the northern regions, experience unequal and limited access to education, and poor-quality inadequate school infrastructure. Funding for the digitalisation of education is limited, restricting the educational advancement of children and adolescents.
The COVID-19 pandemic unveiled further issues, primarily drawing attention to insufficient digital capacities and skills among teachers and secondly the need for schools to mitigate disruption to learning during school closure learning processes. Education is still recovering from the pandemic effects. A general loss of learning and motivation, loneliness, isolation and mental health problems can be felt among children and adolescents, especially affecting those disadvantaged.
How
To address these issues, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Montenegro, UNESCO, UNICEF and ILO partner with "Digital, inclusive, and transformative: Quality education for Montenegro". This joint initiative seeks to strengthen the educational system in Montenegro by facilitating the digital transformation of education in disadvantaged communities, through a smart and inclusive integration of digital tools and capacities into pedagogical practice. The project will provide direct support to children and adolescents, involving them as active participants in co-creating digital programmes and solutions that reflect their needs and preferences. In doing so, this initiative will ensure their voices are heard and taken into consideration throughout planning, design, decision making, implementation, and monitoring.
Overview of activities
The project envisages several components:
- development of digital content that will become an integral part of the Digital School concept
- teacher and ICT coordinator training
- equipping and launching EdTech hubs
- organising digital summer camps for pupils
