Fifth Belgrade Grammar School: teacher dismissals and suspensions

Category: Persecution

Period: from Jan 2025

Outcome: Under investigation (as of 2 Nov 2026)

After the staff of the Fifth Belgrade Grammar School backed the students in January 2025, the Ministry of Education appointed Danka Nešović acting principal without an open competition. During her year in office, at least 19 teachers lost their contracts and 12 staff members were suspended; she was given awards and became an assistant minister. Her successor, Ognjen Mrvaljević, did not reinstate most of the suspended staff, and on 1 November 2026 police detained him after, according to Nedeljnik and Vreme, students caught him throwing documents into a skip. He says he was throwing away waste paper, and the prosecutor's office ordered the documents seized.

Danka Nešović's appointment

In January 2025, the staff of the Fifth Belgrade Grammar School backed the students and stopped work. On 24 February 2025, the Ministry of Education appointed Danka Nešović acting principal without an open competition.

President Vučić described a video of students protesting as she left the school as “terror that the students of the Fifth Belgrade Grammar School are inflicting on the school's principal”. Nešović locked the school, and the ministry announced it would dissolve the School Board.

Teachers left without contracts and suspended

Teachers paid the price. According to the Parents' Assembly, in early September 2025, 19 teachers on fixed-term contracts were left without contracts, four were suspended, and 13 of 32 form teachers were replaced. By the end of Nešović's term, 12 employees had been suspended, six of them on her last day alone, 23 February 2026.

Nešović says a principal is under no obligation to renew contracts and that the matter is “technical, not political.” Parents filed a criminal complaint against her; the prosecution's decision is not known. The same pattern has been described at Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School in Novi Sad (“Pressure on teachers and students at Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School”).

School blockade and awards for the principal

Students blockaded the school from 13 October to 24 November 2025. Minister Dejan Vuk Stanković warned there would be “no salaries” if the blockade continued, and the ministry moved classes to two primary schools.

In January 2026 Nešović received the Saint Sava Award, in February a gold medal from Vučić, and after her term expired she became an assistant minister.

Milkica Prica's dismissal and new suspensions

The new acting principal, Ognjen Mrvaljević, did not reinstate most of the suspended staff. Latin teacher Milkica Prica, after almost 20 years at the school, was dismissed in September 2026; she says the proceedings began when she stood up to the principal. The Parents' Assembly announced on 2 November 2026 that a court had issued an interim measure ordering Prica's reinstatement until the dispute is finally resolved; this is not a final ruling on whether the dismissal was lawful.

History teacher Marko Pištalo, who had been suspended for eight months, was removed again in October 2026 after teaching a single class.

Appointment against the staff's wishes

In a vote on the school's principal, most of the staff backed one of the suspended teachers. According to parents, however, the ministry appointed Mrvaljević principal for a four-year term.

In late October 2026, the Parents' Council called on him to resign and demanded that the appointment be annulled, claiming he had not submitted complete documentation in the application process. According to the Council, teachers left without contracts, suspended or dismissed have not been reinstated. On 9 November, parents filed a criminal complaint against him, among other things on suspicion of abuse of office and destruction of an official document. They gave Minister Dejan Vuk Stanković 48 hours to annul the appointment and announced a complaint against him and Danka Nešović.

Documents in a skip

According to Nedeljnik and Vreme, on 1 November 2026 students caught Mrvaljević throwing bags of documents into a skip; parents blocked his way out, and police detained him. According to the president of the Parents' Council, there were more documents in the boot of his car, and the case was reported to the prosecutor.

According to parents, the papers included lists of students with their personal identification numbers, while Nedeljnik reports that it is not known why the documents ended up in the skip. According to a parent, the prosecutor's office ordered Mrvaljević to be brought in for questioning, and he left the police station the same evening after giving a statement.

The prosecutor's office and the principal's response

The First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade told Insajder on 2 November that it had ordered police to temporarily seize all the documents found, as items that may serve as evidence in criminal proceedings, and to take statements from the principal and witnesses; it will decide on further action once the information has been gathered.

The same day, Mrvaljević wrote in a letter to staff that he had gone to the police voluntarily, as a citizen, that he had put only waste paper, working notes and empty folders in the skip, and that claims he had destroyed evidence were untrue; he announced proceedings against those who, he claims, blocked his car. A parent responded that documents containing students' personal data cannot be irrelevant and that the documents are now with the prosecutors.

Participants

Danka Nešović: She suspended 12 staff members and did not renew the contracts of teachers who, according to students and parents, had supported the blockade (responsible)
Ognjen Mrvaljević: He dismissed teacher Prica, whom a court temporarily reinstated; according to parents, he was throwing school documents into a dumpster (responsible)
Dejan Vuk Stanković: As education minister, he told parents there would be “no salaries and no progress for children” if the blockade continued (responsible)
Aleksandar Vučić: For Statehood Day, he personally presented Nešović with a gold medal for merit (commented on the case)
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development: It appointed Nešović without a competition, announced the dissolution of the School Board and, according to parents, appointed Mrvaljević despite an incomplete application (responsible)
Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium: Within a year she suspended 12 employees, which teachers call punishing integrity, and dismissed teacher Prica (responsible)
Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman): He launched a review of the legality of the ministry's work over complaints about the acting principal; the outcome is not known (oversight and the public)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: It brought in the principal after pupils caught him throwing away bags of documents (investigation and courts)
First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: It ordered police to temporarily seize the documents found and take statements from the principal and witnesses (investigation and courts)