The City of Kraljevo did not award scholarships and prizes to the best university and school students last year. Despite the fact that money for this purpose was planned in the city budget, competitions were not announced, and the funds were redirected without any explanation. Why the decade-long tradition was interrupted precisely last year, only to continue with competitions this year.
After last year’s precedent, when Kraljevo’s best pupils and students were left without scholarships, Dragan Vukadinović, whose daughter used to receive scholarships, is not sure what will happen to the money intended for that this year.
“Bearing in mind that there is obviously a quiet or open war between the authorities and education, in which both educators and students are affected, I am not sure that it will be awarded this year either. These are not huge amounts, but they are still significant from the standpoint of recognizing those children for achieving a certain success,” says Vukadinović.
During last year, the official competitions of the City of Kraljevo for pupil and student awards, St. Vitus Day awards, and city scholarships were neither conducted nor realized.
“This is an unprecedented scandal. For budget funds intended by the Assembly of Kraljevo for pupil and student standards to be redirected to a public enterprise,” says Miroljub Baković, a councilor from the Native Association of Kraljevo.
Councilor Miroljub Baković claims that around 20 million dinars were redirected.
“This has never been recorded before. And it represents a kind of retaliation and revenge by the city authorities in Kraljevo for the student protests during 2025,” explains this councilor.
Why did the Kraljevo authorities decide to deny scholarships to the best university and school students?
We sent questions to the office of the mayor of Kraljevo, but we received no answer.
A few months ago, the portal Krug from Kraljevo managed to get an official response from Mayor Predrag Terzić. In the explanation, he states “that he hopes” that this year the budget funds allocated to students and pupils will be distributed.
And that, as he stated, there will be no “unforeseen interruptions and suspensions of classes.”
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Source: N1; Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons