While higher child allowances for families at the greatest risk of poverty were introduced as a way of compensating the loss of scholarships, DOS president Mitja Lešnik stressed that families received some EUR 80 less than a high school student with a state scholarship got before the change.
According to him, the new Prime Minister Janez Janša told the media that he was against the move and that he would somehow re-introduce scholarships. "We expect him to fulfil his promise," Lešnik said. DOS has meanwhile already collected some 17,000 pupils' and their parents' signatures against the abolition of scholarships, which the organisation will present to the parliamentary deputy speaker, Jakob Presečnik, tomorrow.
Lešnik moreover told the press that the organisation was willing to take any legal measure necessary to get the scholarships back or to find a better solution. The protesters are scheduled to meet representatives of the opposition Positive Slovenia (PS) and SocDems later in the day.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
