Parents of Friday students who go to a Belgrade school for one night in Valjevo should pay 15,000 dinars!
No, this is not an offer of some exclusive world travel agency for too rich Japanese tourists who would like to see Serbia, but for the parents of Serbian children. In a primary school in the capital Friday’s parents were offered a two-day excursion with one night in Valjevo, for a shocking 15,100 dinars! From the same school, an offer for recreational classes for seven days, or six nights, for 31,500 dinars, arrived for students of younger grades.
According to the parents, this was not the most expensive offer in Serbian schools, so some are quoted prices as high as 70,000 dinars in just a few days, wondering who even has the money to afford such a thing. “Skiing for beginners for 7 days on Kopo with 6 days of ski dogs, equipment and school RSD 70,000, with four of them staying in a room. Is that ok?”, one mother asks.
“To tell you the truth, and as a parent and educator, that 15,100 is expensive“, replied Nebojša Novović, director of the Vlada Aksentijević Elementary School from Belgrade, where the excursion was offered to parents at this price, when asked if it was expensive for him and what he personally thinks about that price. “But, that price includes and guide, doctor, compensation for teachers, cost of accommodation, cost per kilometer of transportation, entrance fees and much more. Regardless of everything, what pleases me is that v70 parents have already given consent for their children to go on an excursion. The response of parents and children is about 90 percent“, he says.
This is also understandable, because every parent, no matter how much money they have, will find as much as you want for your child’s satisfaction. And this is what hurts the most and what is commented on the most: “They know that we will do anything for our children, that’s why they ‘beat’ us”. This two-day trip, which should be realized in June, includes a visit to many beautiful places – the Zasavica nature reserve, the Sunčana reka ethnic village, the Tršić ethnic complex, the Tronoša monastery, the Brankovinu complex… However, the children leave for the trip in the morning, and the first organized meal is only in the evening, so they will need additional cash for at least two more meals, and also pocket money. Fortunately, the trip is paid for in installments, but who still has children, so several installments per month.
The director adds that the tender has been completed and that everything has been announced transparently: “The questionnaires were distributed to parents. I talked to them and informed them about the situation in other schools”. And as he adds, the differences in the price of excursions between schools and agencies range from 200 to 400 dinars. “This is probably a small difference for those compensations that the Council of Parents determined for class teachers, that is, children’s companions,” says director Novović.
Novović admits that they are the prices of both excursions and recreational classes have increased compared to the previous periodbut that regardless of price increases in all spheres of society, the school made an effort to choose the most favorable agency. “Unfortunately, the prices are high. This is our reality, but we as a school have not jumped at anything, nor are we different from other schools and agencies. We chose the agency that made the best offer. Everything can be checked on the public procurement portal. There are data on who applied and who won. The one with the lowest price goes through. The complete tender documentation is available on the school’s website,” says Novović.
The agency that participates in the realization of this excursion says that the public procurement has determined exactly what the school is looking for, and that the excursion is not just one night, but a series of items that are listed in detail.
“An excursion is not just an overnight stay, but a small million items that are requested through public procurement. Transportation, entrance fees, compensation are all included. We had public procurement. Public procurement specified what the school is looking for, what is included in that price, as well as what how much it costs. Parents who are in any dilemma can check at the school,” they say.
As they say, it was important for them to fulfill what was required by public procurement. “Each school has individual requirements. Prices on the market are abnormally strong compared to previous years, everything has become more expensive, it is not even known how much it will become more expensive until the actual implementation period. If the price of fuel changes weekly, which affects everything else, of course that also affects the price of the trip,” the agency says.
Students return the offers themselves
The students themselves realized that the prices of school trips had skyrocketed. Thus, the 10-year-old students of a Belgrade school returned the offer for a one-day trip of 5,000 dinars to the teacher., they didn’t even want to show their parents. It will turn out that this is not the only case and that the same thing happened in several other schools.
The president of the Forum of Vocational Secondary Schools, Milorad Antić, says that considering the price situation, there is a great chance that these types of trips completely shut down because the parents have nothing to pay for the excursion. It even happens that they take out a loan in order to fulfill a child’s wish, but as he states, the exorbitant prices do not make any sense because the students primarily do not learn anything on these trips.
“The prices for buses, guide and director are roughly the same everywhere. The only struggle for the excursion is that the director must be in the team. There are a lot of ‘deserving’ people there that you pay as part of the trip. Let’s say, just the bus for the day costs 350 euros. Excursion prices are really abnormal. A few days ago I heard that the price for 7 days in Arandjelovac is 38,000. Such prices do not make sense, probably the excursions will soon cease to exist. “Parents don’t have that much money, and an excursion doesn’t make sense if every last dinar is spent on it,” says Antic.
He adds that a much better option would be to include some kind of education in the excursion, because in in most cases, this trip turns into parties and drinking. Antič’s position is that alcohol should be banned and greater responsibility should be imposed on both teachers and principals, as well as the students themselves.
“It’s more fun, walks and spending time. With us, responsibility is a non-existent word, we are totally different from Western countries. The prices would make sense if the children could at least learn something, see something they can’t see anywhere else, get to know the culture and educational system of another school, but not in this case. At least you know what you invested that money in,” he concludes.