Students to hold referendum on voucher system, insist on higher meal subsidy

Student representatives said they will open an online platform called "Student Referendum" so individual students can vote on a proposed voucher system for subsidised meals, but they insist the state raise the daily meal subsidy above the current level.

Angela Vasilevska, president of the University Student Assembly at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (USS at UKIM), said students are broadly open to changing how the subsidy is used but remain firm that the amount must increase. She told reporters the topic of a higher sum was not discussed during yesterday’s meeting with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Education Minister Vesna Janevska.

“We welcome that there will be a new system and that supermarkets will remain included in the new system, but we still do not know when we will receive an increase and we have no answer how much it will be,” Vasilevska said.

Referendum platform and the timing

Vasilevska explained the Student Referendum platform will allow students to cast individual votes on whether to accept the voucher model. Regardless of the referendum outcome, she said the demand for a higher meal subsidy will remain.

“It is not disputed whether we will have a new system; the dispute is when the state will increase the amount of the subsidised student meal. The initiative for this was submitted more than a month and a half ago and students are still awaiting an answer. We will wait until next week, we will hold the student referendum and I hope the state will realise that students need the meal now,” she added.

Minister Janevska told journalists she believes a solution will be found for the students’ request to raise the subsidy and that students generally accepted the voucher proposal. “The aim of this system is to use the subsidy for healthy food, which is the purpose defined in law, meaning it cannot be used for alcohol, cigarettes and other items they commonly buy. It will be usable wherever certain operators are designated to sell them exclusively food,” she said.

At the start of the academic year student organisations submitted an initiative to the Ministry of Education and Science asking for the daily subsidised meal amount to be increased from the current 140 denars to 200 denars.

Photo: press material from the event