The new school year in the Federation of BiH begins on the first of September. Equip the schoolchildren for the next grade or enrollment in high school is a large financial challenge. Considering that the consumer basket for the average family family in Bosnia and Herzegovina is more than 3,000 marks, parents in addition to basic living needs must single out several hundred marks to make schoolers have everything they need.
In Zenica-Doboj Canton, free textbooks for the basis of the basis, which is a relevant ministry, which certainly represents a certain relief for parents.
Harm to home budget
Arnela Beganović is a mother of a boy who soon moves in the third grade of Zenica primary school. He says that he tries to the child secure everything he needs, but acknowledges that he needs to be extracted for equipping students to the school and several hundred marks.
“For one schoolchildren, the notebooks, accessories and equipment for body education, art and music culture, but if we include clothes and shoes, indeed the costs are high,” she says, reports Federal.
In the time when the consumer basket is about 3,200 marks, and the average salary is only about 1,590 KM, the cost of equipping the child to start the school as additional expenditures represent another stroke to the standard of citizens.
“According to some of our budgets, it is approximately 500-600 KM for one student in primary school. For secondary school students, it is certainly more”, the president of the Alliance of Independers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Facilitation is the fact that in recent years, the cantons in which the competencies are education ensure free textbooks for the basis. Examples works, in Zenica-Doboj Canton, this practice has been implemented for the second year in such a way that they are free textbooks for students from the first to the fifth, and for the seventh grade.
“It is planned for about 2.1 million KM and about 785,500 KM for seventh grade students. We will make it easier for our students,” Mirza Mušija, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Zenica-Doboj Canton (SDA).
Necessary to buy textbooks
But for high schools, it is necessary to buy textbooks. Those with a thinner wallet can buy them at street stalls at a price of 5 to 10 marks, while the parents of the Zeni-based basis, however, remains to buy working volumes, which are more expensive compared to last year.
“The parents of this year for students from the first to fifth grade should buy workbooks, if the teachers are required. There was a price change, although it is not a great price increase – Marka-two,” Asifa Pašalić, sales manager in the publishing house.
In addition to textbooks and workbooks, parents must single out money for school supplies. Prices have not significantly increased, and in bookstores, they seek to adapt the offer to everyone’s pocket.
“We have very fine flowing for 0.80 pages, quality pencils up to 0.50 ponds, water crayons for two to two and a thousand, it is one coffee on average,” says the owner of the bookstore Amir Limanović.
All these benefits are at least partially facilitating the parents of preparation for the new school year. On the other hand, in the time when more and more families leave the country, it is clear that the entire social system requires a change. The state must take over greater responsibility for financing children’s education, because only thus can be achieved by the general degree of knowledge of those who are the future of this country.
