Will students get an increase in allowances instead of abolished benefits?
While the issue of benefits for Chernobyl victims and other benefit beneficiaries is already a closed chapter, students still hope to get something instead of their benefits. Perhaps, the reason is that they have been the most vocal in their protests. They staged ‘stowaway marches’, undressed in front of the education ministry and send postcards to lawmakers.
In their postcards, students listed their losses due to the proposed abolishment of benefits for lunches, stating that they would be deprived of food for the whole month.
Student: “The costs of discounted subway, public bus and trolleybus fares were multiplied at 12 months. The minimum loss amounts to Br301,320, excluding the money that students spend to make trips to their parents in remote areas.
Even if you have a very good diet, spending, say, Br10,000, it makes a total of 30 lunches. The amount of the cancelled benefits would be sufficient to eat for the whole month. But students tend to buy less expensive lunches. It means their benefits would keep them going for a longer period of time.”
However, none of the MPs interviewed by the European Radio for Belarus believe that the benefits will be preserved. Presently, they are busy deciding how and to whome the money should be diverted.
Lawmaker Aliaksandr Hudkou is confident that the youth will not be left without anything. But he would not rule out that not everyone would be lucky.
Aliaksandr Hudkou: “Students should be taken into account when shaping the 2008 budget so that the youth would not be hurt. These are our children and we need to take care of them. As an option, we could possibly provide for some money they could use to pay for travel to their parents once a month. Perhaps, we would keep their benefits for semester terms only or would raise their living allowances.”
Lawmaker Volha Abramava is convinced that universities should offer assistance to their students.
Volha Abramava: “I think this issue could be resolved in the following way. Universities could allocate some money to create assistance funds so that they could support the neediest students.
This was the way in the Soviet times. I think there will be no unified benefits for all. Assistance will be indeed targeted. Reduced transport fares will not survive for all the students.”
Meanwhile, the trade union of education and science workers filed several proposals to the House of Representatives in support of students. The parliament responded in writing that MPs agreed with the union’s position. But it turns out that lawmakers are reluctant to amend the legislation. Instead, they are keen to pass the draft in two readings at once.
“MPs are possibly to put students into a separate preferential category or envisage any other regulations, but they seem to pass this legislation in two readings within two days.
They could possibly keep benefits for the students that are in need of assistance the most like they do it in Ukraine and Russia. There, discounted transport tickets are distributed through students’ trade unions. If this proposal is rejected, we will demand that the targeted assistance funds be run by universities to avoid bureaucratic delays.
We will propose to increase instead the living allowances for students.”
If the legislation is indeed passed on May 23 in two readings, lawmakers will not introduce any amendments. They could only discuss them.
