The city of Beli Manastir has allocated €240,800 in its budget for demographic measures, with funds dedicated to student scholarships, equipment for newborns, and school supplies. This places the city among the top 10 Croatian towns in terms of spending on school necessities.
€65,000 has been earmarked for school supplies, of which €30,000 is for high school students. The practice of assisting with the purchase of school supplies for high school pupils in Beli Manastir was introduced for the first time this year. Three high schools – the Gymnasium, the First High School, and the Second High School – serve students from across the Baranja region, with approximately 300 of them coming from Beli Manastir and its urban settlements: Branjina Vrha, Šećerana, and Šumarina. Each high school student with residency in this area will receive €100 for the purchase of school supplies.
€35,000 has been secured for primary school students. In the two primary schools, OŠ Dr. Franjo Tuđman and OŠ Šećerana, approximately 500 pupils are enrolled, and each primary school student can receive assistance worth €70. From this year, the application process has been digitised, allowing parents to submit requests online within 30 days of 7 September, when it was published on the city’s website. After the deadline, approved subsidies will be paid into parents’ bank accounts.
The City Council also discussed a new Regulation on Student Scholarships. One of the changes is the reduction in the number of scholarship categories – instead of the previous four, two basic categories have been proposed: scholarships based on academic achievement and those based on social and family status. Measures for shortage occupations and children of Croatian veterans will continue to be scored.
Beli Manastir continuously invests in young people through financial support for education, housing, entrepreneurship development, and the encouragement of social and sports activities. Measures include assistance in purchasing school supplies, payment of student scholarships, co-financing summer holidays at Villa Baranja in Dramalj, transport, free entry to the City Pools, co-financing of sports and extracurricular activities, housing support for young people, and subsidies for young farmers and business owners. The Mayor of Beli Manastir is Igor Pavelić.
