Sarajevo, January 23, 2025. – “Knowledge is the primary resource for the development of every society, and our society must become a knowledge society”! Under this motto, the inaugural session of the Council of the non-governmental and non-profit Foundation “Olympiad of Knowledge” was held yesterday in Sarajevo. The session was chaired by prof. emer. dr. Željko Šain and academician prof. dr. Mirko Pejanović and mr.sci. Muhamed Pilav, founders and members of the Board of the Foundation.

The Council of the “Olympiad of Knowledge” Foundation includes: prof. dr. Sarina Bakić, prof. dr. Nerzuk Ćurak, eng. Kerim Hadžić entrepreneur, prof. dr. Sead Turčalo, manager dr. Amir Softić, Semir Bešlija, prof. dr. Kasim Tatić, educator Kristina Vikalo, prof. dr. Merima Čaušević, prof. dr. Ante Džidić, prof. dr. Isak Karabegović, prof. dr. Dženan Kulović, prof. dr. Ljiljan Veselinović, director of the Stepbystep foundation Nedim Krajišnik, prof. dr. Pavle Mijović, publicist Vildana Smailbegović, academician Dejan Milošević, prof. dr. Haris Lulić, prof. dr. Jasmina Selimović, prof. dr. Emir Kurtić, prof. dr. Safet Kozarević, manager Branimir Muidža, academician Lidija Licender, prof. dr. Semir Bešlija, and communicator and entrepreneur Adis Hasaković.

The members of the Council will continuously monitor the state of our education system and compare it with the best in the world. They will propose measures for the improvement of functional knowledge of children, parents, and teachers. They will actively communicate to the public that our children, their health and their right to live and grow in a peaceful environment are more important than all other topics and events. They will then gather funds for the education of children, parents, and teachers and control the expenditure of the funds raised.

The meeting discussed the vision of the “Olympiad of Knowledge” Foundation, the program, the plan and goals of work, and the organizational structure of the Foundation.

It should be emphasized that within the plan and program of the Foundation, ten action goals have been outlined which the Foundation will advocate for:

1. To urgently enable every child to attend an excellent kindergarten and an excellent primary school.
2. To stimulate the best students to enroll in pedagogical faculties or academies. To retrain unemployed students (at the state's expense) for work in kindergartens and schools.
3. To further stimulate professors at pedagogical faculties to turn students into excellent educators (it can and must always be better).
4. To continuously educate parents, grandmothers, and grandfathers (EDUCATION OF EDUCATORS) about the importance and methods of early education and upbringing of babies (media, workshops, lectures).
5. To improve the skills, status, and income of educational workers.
6. To provide scholarships or interest-free loans for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
7. To organize and stimulate competitions in functional knowledge from kindergarten to university.
8. To mandate (by law) that all public media must have at least 1/3 of daily content on educational topics for all ages.
9. To participate in all international assessments of functional knowledge, especially the PISA tests. To select the student of the generation in the final grades of primary and secondary school and introduce a state graduation exam in secondary schools.
10. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR SMALL DREAMS.

If we want Bosnia and Herzegovina to survive and progress (the economic aspect of education) then we must turn our children into entrepreneurs, geniuses, i.e., at least 80% of students must possess a high level of functional literacy. We must significantly increase productivity in both the public and private sectors.

The “Olympiad of Knowledge” Foundation is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that focuses on the improvement of the educational system with the aim of acquiring functional knowledge among children, students, and scholars.

The founders of this non-governmental and non-profit organization are academician prof. dr. Mirko Pejanović, emeritus, prof. dr. Željko Šain, and mr. oec. sci. Muhamed Pilav, a successful entrepreneur with domestic and international experience. The Foundation supports various centers and associations that promote knowledge and the educational system and helps gifted students and scholars through various forms of scholarships.

Although recently established, the Foundation has already launched the Educational Center in cooperation with partner organizations Montessori Community Center and STEM Academy, with programs aimed at supplementary education for children aged 8 months to 18 years.