Children have to walk to school

The Vice-President of the Municipality of Berane, Marko Lalević, asked the Minister of Education, Damir Šehović, to resign, "if he is not able to provide transport to school for children in the north of the country" and cited as a drastic example the case of first graders and elementary school students who attend elementary schools in the local centers of Lubnica in Berane. and Shields.

"On Monday, as these days, they had to go to their first classes on foot or in their parents' car, because the private transport companies that until a month ago regularly transported passengers on the route Štitare - Bubanje informed the Council of the Municipalities of Bubanja and Štitare due to economic unprofitability. about the financial unprofitability and the cessation of transportation on those routes, that is, the losses they have due to the reduced number of passengers," Lalević said.

According to him, the councils of the local communities of Bubanja and Štitare, at a joint meeting held on August 26, considered the notification of the carrier DOO "Božović" about the cancellation of the transportation of passengers and children on the Berane-Bubanja-Berane route and concluded that the suspension of transportation will directly threaten the conduct of classes in Elementary school in Štitare and the regional units of Krlja and Crvljevina, and at the same time they became aware of the fact that due to problems with classes that were organized in a private house until now, due to the dilapidation of the school building, the regional department in Rujište was abolished this school year.

"Under these circumstances, the residents of these local communities have come to a situation where 28 children who attend elementary school in Štitare, as well as 12 children who travel to secondary schools in Berane, have no choice and will be forced to move away and look for accommodation in the city, so that their children could attend classes in the city's primary and secondary schools unhindered and orderly", said Lalević.

He explained that the Municipality is aware of the problem and said that it will do everything in accordance with its possibilities to try to solve this situation.

"But we also expect that the Ministry of Education will urgently get involved in solving this problem. It is known that the Municipality buys textbooks for all elementary students from the first to the ninth grade in the territory of the municipality of Berane every year from budget funds in the amount of 120 thousand euros. The councils of the Štitare Municipal Council and the Bubanja Municipal Council sent a request to solve this urgent problem to the Minister of Education and the director of the elementary school in Štitare for urgent consideration seven days ago, and until today there was no response, so the first graders and other elementary students walked to classes in this school. year", Lalević said.

He claims that in an interview a few days ago, Minister Šehović announced huge investments in educational infrastructure in the amount of fifty million euros.

"Once again, the Government and the minister are in the position of the syndrome of not recognizing the hierarchy of acute problems, so they continue to prioritize objects over people, in this case children and students," Lalević said.

He explained that the investment in the walls of the school will be in vain: "If 28 elementary school students, due to the inability to attend classes regularly, due to the lack of transportation, move together with their families to another elementary school in the city."

"Schools without students are not schools. Only the walls will remain, and rare rural local communities will be additionally displaced and the government's strategy for the development of the countryside and the north of Montenegro will, unfortunately, experience a fiasco for all of us, as we have already warned. Therefore, we appeal to Minister Šehović to get involved in an urgent solution to this problem, or if 50 percent of the 0,02 million euros cannot be allocated for the transportation of students, and another elementary school is closed, let him resign today," Lalević said. .