GOLUBOVIĆ: FREE TEXTBOOKS - SIGNIFICANT RELIEF FOR HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 10 /SRNA/ – Free textbooks are significant support and considerable financial relief for household budgets, with savings for families with three children amounting to as much as BAM 1,000, Republika Srpska Minister of Education and Culture Borivoje Golubović said.

"When you take into account that some parents have three children, one of whom is entering the fifth grade, another the seventh, and the third the ninth grade, the cost of textbooks for parents with three children means savings of up to BAM 1,000 for the household budget," Golubović told the press in Banja Luka. He said that this year all pupils from first to ninth grade, more than 80,000 children from 180 primary schools, would receive free textbooks. According to him, the total value of the programme is BAM 16 million, of which BAM 12 million was provided by the Republika Srpska Government and BAM 4 million by local self-government units. Golubović explained that the contribution of local communities was determined according to their status, with cities contributing 30 percent and the Government 70 percent, while the ratio for municipalities is 20 to 80 percent. He also recalled that extremely underdeveloped municipalities were exempted from contributing to the financing, meaning that the Srpska Government fully provided free textbooks for pupils from those local communities. "This measure will continue in the coming period," Golubović stressed. Golubović noted that textbook distribution began last week across Republika Srpska, from Novi Grad to Trebinje, with the Republika Srpska Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Materials tasked with delivering them to schools. He said that once the textbooks arrive at schools, they are sorted and distributed to parents, and that the entire process should be completed by September 1. Golubović thanked the Republika Srpska Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Materials, as well as the local self-government units that participated in implementing the programme. Speaking about the position of education workers, Golubović said they had received three salary increases this year. The first increase, he says, involved equalizing the salaries of employees with higher education qualifications with those of employees in the administration, followed by two across-the-board increases of five percent each, along with additional increases for certain categories. "Through this type of expenditure alone, around BAM 80 million in additional funds were allocated for salaries in education," Golubović said. He said that more than BAM 6 million had been allocated in this year’s budget of the Ministry of Education and Culture for investments in more than 80 schools across Republika Srpska. "These funds are intended for capital investments. In some cases, this involves renovations, replacement of windows and doors, renovation of sanitary facilities, or replacement of boilers and heating connections. All of this is in the final stages so that the children can be ready for the new school year," Golubović said.