Skopje, 5 February 2024 (MIA) – Minister of Education and Science Jeton Shaqiri held a press conference Monday following a protest staged by university students over delayed payments of scholarships and other subsidies. At the press conference, he said he had invited the President of the University Student Assembly of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (USS-UKIM) to a meeting at the Ministry and that was notified that regular meetings with all student assemblies representing the country’s universities would resume during the week.

The Education Minister said he has always supported the students and has held over 30 meetings with the current and previous president of USS-UKIM in the past two years.

“When we were signing an agreement for the reconstruction of student dormitories, upon my request I had a meeting with the representatives of several universities and I clarified all deadlines for the payout of scholarships. At that meeting, I said that the earliest possible date for the payout of the previous scholarships was the end of January or the beginning of February. This is the case because all payments for the previous semester are paid out in January when the Ministry receives its new budget, this has always been the case except for three years ago when the budget funds were there. In terms of the delay of the funds from the previous year, their payout always depends on the funds available in the budget towards the end of the calendar year,” said Shaqiri, adding that all scholarships have been paid out at 9am on Monday.

Asked about the students’ request for a more efficient system of payout of subsidies and the statement of USS-UKIM President Aleksandar Nikolovski that they would initiate the creation of a calendar of activities that the Ministry would have to follow, Minister Shaqiri said he hasn’t received an official request, but that he remains open to the initiative of the students.

“As a Minister, I support such an initiative for time frames. I will accept the calendar that the students propose after we review it from a legal aspect and in relation to the budget funds that we have available,” said Shaqiri, stressing that the Ministry should and must be more efficient.

Photo: MIA