The President of the Provisional Authority of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, announced that the parents of each elementary and high school student will receive 20.000 dinars per child, which they will be able to use to buy textbooks or distribute those funds in another way, reports RTS.
Šapić noted that this leaves the opportunity for parents to decide for themselves whether they will buy new or used books, as well as whether the younger child will inherit the textbooks from the older one, and therefore spend the money on other needs.
"The cheapest set is about 11.000 dinars, while the most expensive is about 16.000 to 17.000. You can see a clear difference in the ratio of the aid we give and the money needed for textbooks. "They can distribute it in another way, especially because the month of September is difficult for the household budget," said Šapić.
"The Great Leap Forward"
He pointed out that the application starts on April 22 and will last until the end of the summer, and that the procedure will be similar to the one that was used for state aid during the coronavirus epidemic.
"This is a big step forward in helping parents of elementary and high school students," said Šapić and added that he is convinced that whoever will lead Belgrade in the future will not abolish this measure.
Last year, all elementary and high school students received sets of textbooks from the City, with the fact that they were delivered to the schools at the end of August, which then distributed them to the students at the beginning of the school year.
The reason why last year's practice of awarding free textbooks was replaced by a one-time financial aid this year is still unknown.
"Snake in the pocket" of local authorities
The idea of free textbooks in Belgrade was met with numerous questions and criticisms from those who live in the interior of Serbia, in municipalities where the local authorities did not even say anything about it.
Namely, students received free textbooks only in certain cities, including Surdulica, while parents from most of Serbia have to allocate substantial sums from their household budgets every September.
In most cities and municipalities, only first year students receive free textbooks.
This summer, "Kreni promeni" launched an online petition asking for free textbooks for all primary school students in Serbia. Over 35.000 signatures were collected on this petition, addressed to the Minister of Education Slavica Đukić Dejanović and the Minister of Finance Sinisa Mal.
The answer of the Minister of Education was short and clear: "Free books are a matter of the budget of local governments."
Meanwhile, in Niš, the third largest city in Serbia, free textbooks are provided only to students in the first grade of primary schools.
The opposition parties there demanded that all students receive free books, which was one of the demands at the "Nis against violence" protests in September of last year.
The situation is almost identical in Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, as well as in all smaller towns in Vojvodina.
And the topic of free books wouldn't raise so much dust if it weren't for the prices that would make a minimum wage parent have to set aside a third or even half of their monthly income to finance textbooks, if the costs for the rest of the school supplies are excluded.
"Elementary school education is mandatory for all children in our country, and this also means that parents have an obligation to provide their children with textbooks and accompanying teaching aids." The figures necessary to ensure all this are not small. A set of textbooks for students from the first to the fourth grade ranges from 9000 to 12000 dinars, while for students from the fifth to the eighth grade, between 15000 and 20000 dinars," Kreni-promeni announced at the time.
Professor Kavčić's initiative
The initiative for free textbooks throughout Serbia was also launched by the "Alek Kavčić" Foundation. The basic idea was the creation of a program of free textbooks, which would also be available on the Internet.
"It is a project that is very acceptable from a moral point of view, because textbooks are not free in Serbia. The system is messed up, because this government has allowed the influx of foreign publishing houses that are conquering the market with large capital and corrupt marketing methods, and textbooks are becoming even more expensive," Kavčić said at the time.
We would like to remind you that the "Alek Kavčić" Foundation was founded in America in 2017, and started working in Serbia in 2020. The founder of the foundation is Professor Aleksandar Kavčić, who has been working in America for many years, and was once a student of the Mathematics High School in Belgrade.
