site.btaUniversity Students Protest Outside Education Ministry in Skopje

Students, organised by several associations, protested in front of the Education Ministry in Skopje on Monday over delayed payment of scholarships.

Monday morning North Macedonia's Education Minister Jeton Shaqiri said in a Facebook post that while protesting, students who have fulfilled the conditions for scholarships can now see the funds transferred to their accounts.

"I urge you to use your concentration and energy for higher grades in the exams you have this week, I appeal to you not to fall victim to misinformation," Shaqiri wrote.

The protest did not stop and students stated their demands for the provision of the delayed payments of student transport vouchers, and for the improvement of the condition of student accommodation. The protesters chanted "Student Standard" outside the ministry building with red cards in their hands.

"This government has no practice of removing rights, on the contrary, it advocates for improving the student standard. In the last few years, a number of new entitlements have been introduced- new categories of grants, and the monthly amounts of existing grants have been increased for certain categories by over 80%. Subsidised student meals have been introduced and the amount has been further increased at the request of students. We have also introduced a number of anti-crisis measures in order to support the educational process of young people and to cover part of the costs," North Macedonia's Education and Science Ministry said in a statement. 

The students' protest was backed by opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, which promised that "once VMRO-DPMNE comes to power, it will put an end to the humiliations that students are subjected to by the government that is leaving."