For years, teachers have been illegally receiving daily allowances for student trips and excursions from parents' pockets, which is why these trips are often significantly more expensive than the regular offers of the same travel agencies.
Therefore, "Vijesti" has learned, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI) yesterday warned school administrations that the payment of daily allowances to teachers is the exclusive responsibility of the institutions, in accordance with the Regulation on the Compensation of Expenses of Public Sector Employees.
Several Montenegrin schools confirmed to the editorial team yesterday that they had received a "binding instruction" from the Ministry of Education and Science. According to the same information, the directors of the institutions were told that "any deviation from the stated procedures constitutes a violation of the law and may result in legal consequences."
Several institutions told "Vijesti" yesterday that the previous practice was that teachers who accompany children on trips were paid per diems by travel agencies, whose routes were selected in a tender. The money was previously paid to the agencies by parents.
Allegedly, depending on the size of the school, daily allowances amounted to at least 20 euros per child for multi-day trips, and were mostly paid upon return from excursions or the School in Nature program. For one-day trips, agencies allegedly paid teachers two euros per student.
The Government Regulation, however, stipulates that the daily allowance for official travel within the country belongs to the employee in the amount of 20 percent of the calculated value of the coefficient. This means that employees in the state sector are entitled to a daily allowance of 18 euros per day.
This daily allowance is paid in full if only accommodation is provided during the official trip. If meals are provided - lunch and dinner, the daily allowance is reduced by 60 percent. If the trip includes only one meal, the daily allowance is reduced by 40 percent, according to the Government Regulation.
The amounts of daily allowances for travel outside Montenegro depend on the country to which the trip is being made, but also on whether the employees have organized accommodation and meals...
Letter to schools
"In order to act lawfully, transparently and responsibly when organizing student excursions, field trips and professional visits, we inform you that it is necessary that all activities related to the planning, implementation and financial accounting of employees who carry out these activities be fully aligned with the current Regulation on Reimbursement of Expenses of Employees in the Public Sector ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", No. 040/16, 028/18, 108/20, 128/24, 079/25), which regulates this issue," the MoENI letter states.
It is specified that "for each trip, a business travel order must be issued with a clearly defined purpose, place, and duration of the trip."
"An employee who participates in the organization and accompaniment of students on an excursion is entitled to a daily allowance, at the expense of the employer, in accordance with the Regulation. Each official trip must be previously approved by the director, in compliance with the prescribed procedures relating to public institutions, as well as internal financial regulations. For the organization of excursions and field trips, it is recommended that schools, when selecting an agency and planning the program, respect the criteria of quality, safety and cost rationality, with mandatory application of the procedures. We remind you that any deviation from the above procedures constitutes a violation of the law and, as such, may result in legal consequences," the MoENI letter to school administrations emphasized.
Decades of practice
For years, parents have been warning that excursions, and especially the School in Nature program, are significantly more expensive than what they would pay on their own in the same catering facilities.
The Parents' Association has also been warning for years that schools generally receive only one bid in tenders because, allegedly, tourist agencies have divided municipalities and schools.
"Everyone has their own school. They know exactly which tender they are applying for and you have one offer and always the same explanation. You don't have the opportunity to choose," the director of the Parents' Association said earlier. Kristina Mihailović.
"Vijesti" was told yesterday by several schools that usually only one bid is received for the tender for student trips.
"Once it happened that two agencies submitted documentation, but one offer was technically completely incorrect," said one of the Podgorica directors contacted by the editorial team yesterday.
Another, however, explains that the practice of agencies paying teachers per diems is “almost two decades old”.
"I can't say for sure, but there was talk among colleagues that the daily allowances were lower in schools with fewer students, compared to large city schools. They heard that from colleagues from other institutions," he said.
According to him, this is an "inherited practice." Until yesterday, the interlocutor of "Vijesti" unofficially claims, he did not even know that this practice could be against the regulations.
Two agencies "in charge" of Podgorica schools
Last year's BIRN research showed that the job of organizing school excursions and nature schools is usually won by two companies, while public calls for proposals issued by Podgorica's primary schools usually receive only one bid.
BIRN analyzed public procurements of 14 Podgorica and two elementary schools from Zeta that have issued tenders for organizing school excursions or nature schools in the last two years. An analysis of 61 public procurements showed that two Podgorica companies were awarded the contract to organize 57 school trips, worth around three million euros.
The Parents Association previously, in statements to "Vijesti", questioned the way in which the two agencies share the work of organizing student trips, at least at the Podgorica level.
"... Because we all know it and it's been going on for years. However, we all have to bear that part of the responsibility because first we don't insist on the responsibility of those who do it in front of all of us, and then we agree, ultimately accepting such conditions. In tenders, which are often very precisely described and written so that the offer is later practically just moved to another time, exactly one offer arrives. And then, they say, there is no choice. And so on for years," she previously told "Vijesti" Beautiful Žunjić from the Parents Association.
She also raised the issue that the prices of trips, especially the School in Nature program, cannot be afforded by a significant portion of families, and the way in which they are organized is also questionable, given that "students learn nothing, except for socializing with teachers in a less formal atmosphere."
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