The Forum for Education Reform has filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court against the Ministry of Education and Science. The ministry has not increased the amount of the student stipend. The lawsuit was filed because, according to the Forum, the payment has not been adjusted for the annual inflation rate, as the law requires.
Forum chairman Blendi Hodai stated before filing the lawsuit that increasing the stipend is not a matter of the will or discretion of the Government and the Ministry of Education. He said it is a legal obligation set out in Article 2, paragraph 1 of the law. According to him, that provision stipulates that the amount of the student stipend must be adjusted each year to the annual inflation rate in the country.
“In our case, the Ministry of Education and Science has violated the law and harmed around 3,000 students who receive the student stipend,” Hodai said. He added that a student today receives 25 denars less per day for food because of the failure to adjust. This amounts to about 650 denars less per month and approximately 6,000 denars over a nine-month academic year.
The Forum demands that the beneficiary students be compensated retroactively for the financial damage that, according to it, MASH caused them. In support of this demand, the Forum recalls that 38 percent of young people in the country face poverty.
Lawsuit against MASH over the student stipend
Asked about the proposal to change the model of the student stipend, Hodai expressed the Forum’s opposition. According to him, such a procedure could take 7 to 8 months. This would mean that students would finish the academic year with the payment they currently receive.
Hodai clarified that the Forum supports using the student stipend 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 that proposal. However, he opposed changing the form of the benefit through m-services.
Referring to the prime minister’s statement, Hodai said that creating the student stipend platform through m-services requires a tender procedure. This procedure would take 7 to 8 months. After the lawsuit is filed, the Administrative Court is expected to review the Forum’s request for adjusting the stipend to inflation and for retroactive compensation of the beneficiary students.