The Federal Ministry of Education and Science informed the public and the cantonal ministries of education today that funds for the purchase of free textbooks for students from the first to fifth grade of elementary school will be refunded from the budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They point out that the Government of the Federation of BiH is currently the guarantor of the cantonal ministries that the funds will be paid immediately after the adoption of the rebalancing of the federal budget.
With the goal of objectively informing the public, the ministry explains that the delay in the payment of funds for the purchase of textbooks, which is a complex and long-term process, is caused by an error in the economic code that occurred during the adoption of the federal budget in January of this year.
Namely, as it is added, the Federal Ministry of Finance, by its act of March 10, 2023, informed the Federal Ministry of Education and Science that due to the aforementioned error, it cannot give consent to this ministry for the Government of the Federation of BiH to consider and adopt the proposed decision on the adoption of the Program of Spending of Funds with criteria for the distribution of current transfer funds determined by the FBiH budget for 2023.
Also, by the same act, the Federal Ministry of Finance informed the Federal Ministry of Education and Science that they sent a request to the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to consider the proposal for the correction of a technical error in the FBiH budget for 2023 and the Law on the Execution of the FBiH Budget for 2023.
On that occasion, the Federal Ministry of Finance ordered the Federal Ministry of Education and Science to prepare a new proposal for a decision on the adoption of the Fund Spending Program with criteria for the distribution of current transfer funds, which does not include a transfer for the purchase of textbooks for elementary school students in the FBiH from the first to the fifth grade. In this regard, the Federal Ministry of Education and Science submitted the requested corrected proposal of the decision, which was adopted at the session of the FBiH Government on April 13, 2023.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Finance, by the same act dated March 10, 2023, informed that the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, after the FBiH Parliament adopts the aforementioned proposal for the correction of a technical error, should prepare a new proposal for a decision for the Program for the purchase of free textbooks, and the same before sending to be submitted to the Federal Government for approval by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Science emphasizes that after the correction of errors in the economic code, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will pay the funds to the cantonal ministries of education as soon as possible, in order to ensure free textbooks for students from the first to the fifth grade of primary schools in the FBiH.
