Students in blockade held a protest today titled “Knowledge Is Power” in front of the Rectorate in Belgrade. High school students, university students, as well as the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, addressed the gathering.
At the gathering, the hymn to Saint Sava was performed, and the first to address those present was Professor Katarina Šćepanović, vice president of the forum of Belgrade gymnasiums.
“Today I stand in front of the University of Belgrade, one of the best in the world, so that we do not forget. This year, we listen to Savindan speeches with bitterness because retaliation against education is ongoing. We are being punished because a year ago we stood up in defense of what is most important – education. Knowledge without morality is nothing, and it is not for sale, because who dares to sell off what they themselves did not acquire,” Šćepanović said.
Actress Anita Mančić read the words of the famous Serbian poet Desanka Maksimović.
Čudesna Anita Mančić. pic.twitter.com/1od4OFSj79
— Zbor Slavujev potok i Zvezdara (@zbor_slavujev) January 27, 2026
Address by a student of the Belgrade Gymnasium
Maša Samardžić, a student of the Belgrade Gymnasium, addressed the gathering “Knowledge Is Power.”
“After more than 200 years of education, only empty toasts are being recited, while education is neglected, expert staff are being dismissed, even though there are not enough teachers. Forced administrations are being imposed, because absolute control comes first, not students. We are young, but we are aware of what is happening before our eyes. We do not want to invest years of effort in improvement only to be ignored, because party membership cards and obedience are valued. That is why we stand determined and persistent in a joint struggle. Education serves to sharpen our vision even when lies try to block our view,” the student said.
Student of the Faculty of Teacher Education
Maja Zorić, a student of the Faculty of Teacher Education in Belgrade, also addressed the gathering.
“We all witness how education is spoken about loudly and often, but in reality it is being suppressed and treated as an expense that should be reduced to a minimum,” she said.
Address by Rector Đokić
The words of reproach by the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić.
“History has shown that no government, like the current one, has treated members of the academic community so arrogantly, vindictively, and maliciously because the academic community did not agree to remain silent,” he said, as reported by N1.
He emphasized that we are witnessing how the regime, with its malice and perversity, is striking at the two most valuable categories of the population – the youngest and the most educated.
“It is attacking the University, truth-loving people! The youngest and the most educated bother them because they do not want to remain silent, because they want to stay in this country and live a normal life,” Đokić said.
He added that the academic community faces new models of pressure on university autonomy every day, and that those who hold political levers stop at nothing and exert physical, financial, media, and administrative pressure in various ways.
“Physical pressure – such as the incursion of police and gendarmerie into the University Campus in Novi Sad and the excessive use of force. An attempted police incursion into the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. Detention and beating of students and professors in front of faculty buildings. Financial pressure – a Decree limiting the scientific research work of university professors. The SPIRI system, which abolishes the financial independence of higher education institutions. The inability to implement international projects due to a ban on opening new sub-accounts. Media pressure – targeting of students and professors by pro-government media and the highest representatives of the authorities. Administrative pressure – misdemeanor and criminal charges against all deans and rectors in Serbia,” he explained.
The Rector also emphasized that they respond to the force and arrogance of this regime with the full force of education.
“That force connects us and encourages society as a whole to strive for higher achievements in all areas. There can be no strong and successful society without strong education and an educational system that protects not, as today, the privileged, but all citizens, and develops adequate mechanisms to help the most vulnerable,” he said, adding that investment in higher education is a key investment for the economic and social development of any community.
He believes that change is necessary at every level of education and across the entire educational system, both in form and content.
“I want to encourage members of the academic community to collegially and actively engage in the defense of university autonomy, to unequivocally advocate for academic freedoms, and to resist pressures and by personal example preserve the dignity of our profession and our calling. I call on the competent institutions to ensure the legally guaranteed autonomy of universities, and to ensure that civilizational achievements, the constitution, and human rights are not violated in the public and media space. Finally, I send a message to the current and every future government – Power is not in malice, knowledge is power!” concluded the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić.
“I stand before you today as a man who refused to trade your future”
Speech by Vladimir Ristić, a physical education teacher and dismissed principal of an elementary school in Omoljica.
“We did not gather today just to speak, but to remind ourselves why education exists. It should enable a person to think, to choose, and to participate in society, not to remain silent. Education is not just the acquisition of knowledge, it is a calling. Today, from this place, we are sending a clear message – better times can be built through education, knowledge is power. I stand before you today as a man who refused to trade your future,” Ristić said.
The formal part of the gathering ended, and the students invited those present to join them in a walk to the Temple.
At the end of the “Knowledge Is Power” gathering, the students announced a new assembly – on Sretenje in Šumadija.
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Source: N1 / Nova.rs, Foto: Printscreen N1