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The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of local government, school management, teachers and pupils of the Stojan Novaković Elementary School, and representatives of NIS. At the ceremony, Milan Ćurčić, Mayor of Blace, thanked NIS for the donation to the school in Blace. “Donations of this type are very important for municipalities as small as ours, primarily because of the cooperation our country has with Russia, but also for our pupils, who will more easily and with even greater enthusiasm master the Russian language”, said Ćurčić. The classroom is equipped with an interactive board, a computer, a printer, a set of speakers and a camera that improve the quality of classes. New furniture was also provided. This classroom is designed for all senior pupils who study Russian, and, when needed, teachers and students of the High School in Blace, where Russian is also taught. “We want to thank NIS for showing that it is a socially responsible company which takes care of the future of young people and which once again recognized the importance of education. Thanks to our friends from NIS, our pupils will spend quality time in a pleasant atmosphere and use modern technology in classes. They will gain knowledge in a more interesting and dynamic way. We are proud of our achievements so far, but our goal is to make this school a ‘temple of knowledge’, because education and knowledge are the most powerful weapon we have”, said Danijela Nikolić, Director of Stojan Novaković Elementary School. Stojan Novaković Elementary School has 696 pupils, and all senior pupils – 384 of them – study Russian. Pupils of this school have achieved outstanding success in Russian language competitions for years. This school year, Anja Veljović, a pupil of this school, won 3rd place in the District Competition in Russian language and qualified for the Republic Competition. She also took part in the 7th NIS’ Russian Language Competition. In 2008, Dijana Vuksanović won 2nd place in NIS’ Russian Language Competition and 3rd place in International Competition in Moscow, and that was the best result of pupils of Stojan Novaković Elementary School in NIS’ language competitions so far. Marija Jelić, NIS’ expert on cooperation with universities, said that the Company makes great efforts to raise the popularity of the Russian language. “One of the directions of our corporate social responsibility Energy of Knowledge program is raising the popularity of the Russian language and Russian culture. We donate funds to refurbish Russian language classrooms, but we also organize the NIS’ Russian Language Competition. During this year, but also in previous years, pupils of the Stojan Novaković Elementary School have shown significant results, and that is why we donated funds to refurbish this classroom”, said Marija Jelić. During 2018, based on the number of participants and their placements in Russian language competitions, NIS supported equipping and refurbishment of Russian language classrooms in six educational institutions in the Republic of Serbia. In 2019, NIS continues with this practice in schools throughout Serbia. So far, besides Blace, Russian language classrooms have been opened at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, in the Svetozar Miletić Elementary School in Titel, Olga Milošević Elementary School in Smederevska Palanka and Brekovo Elementary School near Arilje. At the Russian language classroom opening ceremony, teachers and pupils of the School organized a diversified artistic program, and the Director Danijela Nikolić presented Letters of Appreciation to NIS and the Russian House – Russian Centre of Science and Culture. The Energy of Knowledge program was launched in 2012. In addition to supporting the development of natural sciences, NIS also invests in raising the popularity of the Russian language, so, since 2013, seven Russian Language Competitions have been held and more than 10 Russian language classrooms have been opened in schools whose students achieved high results in those competitions. In 2014, NIS’ Russian Language Competition was included in the official calendar of competitions of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. Also, as part of raising the popularity of the Russian language goal, through the Energy of Knowledge program, NIS has been supporting the implementation of bilingual classes in three schools in Serbia and cooperating with the faculties of Universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad since 2014. Teacher for bilingual classes in these schools are educated at the University of Novi Sad – Faculty of Education, the Centre for Russian Studies was opened at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade in 2018, and a Russian language classroom was opened at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. Cooperation with the Faculty of Philology includes the realization of the Serbian language classes in the Russian School of the Embassy of Russia in Belgrade.
