The Ministry of Education and Science is being sued by the Forum for Educational Change for failing to increase the student meal allowance. The Forum is also seeking retroactive compensation for eligible students for the financial losses it says the ministry has caused them.
Before filing the lawsuit with the Administrative Court, the Forum’s president, Blendi Hodai, stressed that increasing this payment does not depend on the wishes or willingness of the government and the Ministry of Education. He explained that it is an obligation set out in Article 2, paragraph 1 of the law, which requires the student meal allowance to be adjusted each year in line with the country’s annual inflation rate.
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According to Hodai, by failing to make this adjustment, the Ministry of Education and Science has broken the law and caused financial harm to around 3,000 students who receive the allowance. He said each of them currently receives 25 denars less for food, amounting to around 650 denars less per month and approximately 6,000 denars over a nine-month academic year.
Asked about the proposal to change the student meal allowance system, Hodai expressed the Forum’s opposition. He said implementing the change could take seven to eight months, meaning students would finish the academic year receiving their current payment.
Hodai clarified that the Forum supports using the student meal allowance only for healthy food. He recalled that this was first proposed in 2020, when work was underway on such a solution, and that they had supported the proposal. However, he opposed changing the way the benefit is provided through mobile services. Referring to the prime minister’s statement, Hodai said that creating a student meal allowance platform through mobile services requires a tendering procedure, which would take seven to eight months.
In support of its demand for retroactive compensation for the financial losses suffered by students receiving the allowance, the Forum for Educational Change recalled that 38% of young people in the country face poverty.
