Finance Minister Siniša Mali announced that an additional 12.01 billion dinars have been allocated to higher education, allowing for a 50% reduction in student tuition fees.
In an Instagram post, Mali explained that the funds were provided to meet the fourth and final demand of the students who had been on strike.
“We didn’t need a budget rebalancing, but we managed to do it through the redistribution of existing resources. This money will be used to reduce tuition fees by 50%, cover material costs, and possibly raise salaries for higher education staff, depending on discussions with professors, deans, rectors, and students,” he stated.
Mali noted that while discussions on the exact distribution of these funds are still ongoing, it was essential to meet the students’ demand regarding tuition fees.
“Looking at all four demands, it is clear that all of them have been fulfilled. The first demand was the publication of documents related to the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad. Over the last two days, we published 263 documents on the Government of Serbia’s website, bringing the total to 16,307 documents, with an additional 377 documents available on the Railway Infrastructure website,” he explained.
Regarding the second and third demands, Mali shared that criminal proceedings have been initiated against 37 individuals, and yesterday President Aleksandar Vučić signed a decree pardoning 13 persons involved.
“All four of the students’ and student parliaments’ demands have been met, and I hope that the resolution of this situation will be achieved through dialogue. I look forward to discussions taking place soon,” Mali concluded.
