Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Coordinating Centre for Southern Serbia Milan Markovic delivered today contracts on scholarships for 206 secondary school students from southern Serbia, in the monthly amount of RSD 6,000.

At a ceremony at the Palace of Serbia, Markovic said that these funds are being secured for the second consecutive year by the Serbian government’s Coordinating Centre for the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

This year RSD 12 million have been set aside for this purpose and 58 students more received scholarships in relation to last year. You must build a society that will be better than the one we are leaving to you. In order to do that, you must get an education, you must know how to communicate, you must learn the language of the country you live in, acquire new knowledge and above all, be good people, Markovic said.

The Minister said that a better society can be built only if the advantage that Roma, Albanians and Serbs live in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja is used, which will be a life chance for every student.

One day the fact that you know how to live with members of another ethnicity will be your personal big chance to perform even serious state jobs, Markovic underlined and added that the state will provide help as much as it can.

Saluting the students, Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic recalled that one of the state priorities is to increase access to education and to make Serbia become part of the European system of education.

Owing to the OSCE, the European Commission and others, we solve these problems step by step, Obradovic said and pointed out that the Albanian Community Council is a valuable collaborator in the field of education.

Obradovic recalled that university departments have been opened in Medvedja and told the young to study in order to respect each other and help to make Serbia a better place.

Postanska stedionica postal savings bank provided savings worth RSD 5,000 to each student, and the saving books were handed over to students at the ceremony by President of the bank’s Executive Council Srdjan Cekic.

Public postal company PTT Posta Srbije provided presents for the occasion, and the Coordinating Centre for southern Serbia provided jackets for students.

The students were received earlier today by Serbian parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas.

The ceremony was attended by member of parliament Riza Halimi, head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Dimitrios Kypreos, ambassadors of Albania and Greece, representatives of the British Embassy and presidents of the three municipalities from southern Serbia.