Every year the same story with the textbooks repeats itself. Despite the appeals of parents who have spent years asking the competent institutions to do something and provide free textbooks for everyone – and not only for those who live in Belgrade – the situation has not changed this September.
Brankica Janković, the commissioner for the protection of equality, reacted to the situation this season. Janković stated that there is a legal basis for all children to receive free textbooks. A recommendation on this was sent to the Ministry of Education at the beginning of August, based on a previously performed analysis, which, according to her, was informed to the competent Ministry.
“Surely we as a state can find funds for textbooks somewhere. I believe that the Government and the Ministry of Finance could organise a fair distribution, one based on social justice, as stipulated in our Constitution, the Law on the Basic System of Education and Training, and the Law on textbooks,” she told the national broadcaster.
The neighbouring countries showcase that the question of textbooks can be handled differently (and better)
According to the Vreme media research, in Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia and Montenegro the state provides textbooks to all primary school students.
For example, in Croatia, the schools order the textbooks on their own, after which the total cost is sent to the Ministry of Education, which then pays the schools. Students are obliged to keep the textbooks and return them at the end of the year, so that they can be used by the next generation. The school orders new sets every four years, while the exception is the “workbooks”, which are ordered and distributed to students every year.
In Slovenia, the situation is similar to that in Croatia, except that each public primary school has its own textbook fund – a progressive practice that has existed since the Yugoslavian period and which they have not changed. And why should they, when it brings good results.
We should also mention the example of Macedonia, where primary and secondary school students have free textbooks, which they return at the end of the school year. If they are badly damaged, the parent is obliged to pay for them.
It’s incredible how much the mantras of the state authorities about Serbia being a tiger economy make us think sometimes that Serbia is in fact the economic leader in the region. However, it is enough to start comparing the basic living expenses of the population – like school textbooks – to see otherwise.
The question of textbooks shows that of all the ex-republics of the former Yugoslavia, only parents in Serbia pay for the textbooks out of their own pockets (with the exception of the capital city and a few smaller cities or municipalities). Similar situation exists only in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
And we can expand on that. According to the aforementioned research, textbooks are also free in Bulgaria, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Hungary and Spain.
V.K.
