Children Demand Free Schoolbooks and Transportation

24 August 2006

The Children Parliament of Macedonia demands from the Government to take appropriate measures to solve the problems in education in the country that directly impact the rights of children, especially their right to education.

Simona Kafedjiska from the Children's Parliament

The representatives of the Children Parliament list the unsuitable and ruined schools in the country, the expensive transportation and the current problem with the cud-down of electricity for the schools with outstanding debts on their electricity bill as the priority problems that need solving.

Another problem emerging at every start of the new academic year are the expensive schoolbooks for elementary and secondary education, especially in the current economic crisis and the fact that many children come from families recipients of welfare allowances, the parents are unemployed or receive minimal salary.

�These children have found themselves in the unfortunate situation in which their parents can�t afford the schoolbooks or the transportation bills. Therefore, we demand that free schoolbooks are secured for the students in elementary and secondary education�, say the representatives of the Children Parliament.

The organization will inform the new Speaker of the Sobranie of RM (the Parliament) about accumulated problems and their proposals for solutions, and will ask for a meeting and his assistance in protection of children rights.