Trade union: It is hard for students to get material support from the government
Students in Belarus were deprived of discount rates for the public transport last month. Every university was expected to develop a procedure so that this money could be compensated. However, only the Belarusian National Polytechnic University bought 400 monthly tickets for students in December. Most of the universities are still waiting for formal instructions from the Education Ministry.
Ihar Syamyonau, the chairman of the students’ trade union at the Belarusian State Medical University, told the European Radio for Belarus that the government had issued a measure that sets out procedures for paying a material compensation to students. However, judging by the number of the papers that students are required to file in order to apply for the material assistance, the unions are doubtful that anyone can eventually be compensated.
Ihar Syamyonau: “The procedure is very complicated. We doubt that anyone will make it to the very end of this procedure”.
It remains unclear who will be eligible for this compensation. It is planned that universities will compile the lists of those who returned from their parents' home and pay money to them.
The administration at the Medical University says that they have set up a commission that will decide how to distribute the compensation money from the state budget. The commission will also consider the income of parents which is not supposed to exceed Br185670 per one family member.
Nina Radzevich, the chairperson of the students’ union at the Belarus State University, told the European Radio for Belarus that they did not have any commission entrusted with the distribution of travel allowances for students.
“We don’t have any documents or instructions that regulate the compensatory payments for students”.
The Belarus State University currently tells students to apply for social assistance at the district social security departments, but the latter routinely decline a helping hand to the students.
Students are entitled to applying for a material assistance from the university once a year. 4 base rates are normally paid to the applicants after giving a child birth or marriage. 2 base rates are paid when a student is in a difficult financial situation. The trade union does not care if you have traveled abroad or not. But the commission that decides on the targeted social assistance will not give you any compensation if it learns that you spent your holidays in the Crimea.
While universities are trying to figure out how to support their students, the latter are helping themselves. Alena who studies at the Belarus State University, says that she always monitors the transport controllers. If they stand in front of the bus, she runs to the rear. But this technique does not work in the Metro.
“It might seem that Br600 is a very little amount of money. When we have our sport classes on Pershamayskaya Street, we often use the metro. Now I have to pay Br1200 for a return ticket, and it sounds like real money. Increasingly, we ask ourselves that perhaps we could walk instead”, Alena said.
Universities promise that when students are back from their vacations in February, this matter will be finally resolved.
