Presevo – As part of the project "Cultural Needs of Youth in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja – How To Achieve Dialogue", funded, through the European Progress Program, by the European Union, the Swiss Government and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Center for Democracy and Development of South Serbia organized, at the small hall of the municipal building,   a round table on cultural needs of youth and on the ways to solve them. However, although the project was called "cultural needs", the main theme of the round table in Presevo was the lack of employment opportunities that young people perceived as the main prerequisite for the satisfaction of their cultural needs.

The roundtable was attended by Resat Neziri, Deputy Mayor of Presevo, Valon Arifi, Director of the United Volunteers from Presevo, activists from the Youth Office in Presevo and young people from political parties operating in Presevo.

Reshat Neziri, Deputy Mayor of Presevo, talked about the unmet needs of young people, their inadequate education and the lack of employment opportunities or of the possibility of being employed through becoming a member of a political party. 

He believes that adequate education would help young people to quickly find work, but that young people cannot acquire it because of the lack of textbooks in the Albanian language. He underlined the problem with the validation of university diplomas obtained in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as with classes in Serbian for the Albanian children, which were held by unskilled teachers.

“It is difficult to meet cultural needs because of the lack of funds. Support from the local self-government is symbolic since the Youth Office in Presevo received only one million dinars, "Mr. Neziri said.

He also said that the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, whose representatives participated in the roundtable, had not fulfilled its obligation to improve the standard of living of the population.

Valon Arifi, Director of the United Volunteers from Presevo, said that "the Albanian youth is deprived of adequate education." He added that a great responsibility for not solving the problems of young people in Presevo was borne by the local authorities, but also by the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

Seljami Bektasi, a representative of the Coordination Body’s Office in Presevo, pointed out that the Coordination Body had been, for the eighth consecutive year, providing scholarships to students whose parents were unable to finance their education.

“On the basis of a call for applications, 415 scholarships, each of which amounted to 6,000 dinars per month,   were awarded. In 2016, the Coordination Body earmarked 18,774,000.00 dinars for scholarships given to secondary school students, and provided free school supplies and school bags to the first graders from the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. In 2016, 14,363,968.41 dinars were set aside for the scholarship program at the University of Novi Sad. The scholarships were awarded to the students who had previously enrolled in the university, and who were then moving on to other years of study. 25 scholars are currently receiving scholarships from the Coordination Body, "Mr. Bektasi said.

He also said that "when it comes to education, the Coordination Body, in 2016, in cooperation with the Printing Office of the Directorate for General Administrative Matters, enabled free printing of 13 textbooks, the circulation of which was 50 copies each, for the purposes of teaching at the Subotica Faculty of Economics’ Department in Bujanovac.”

“The Coordination Body organized, for the first time, a three-month course in Serbian for young people from this municipality for whom Serbian was a non-mother tongue. The Coordination Body’s Office firstly organized a training course for teachers from the selected schools from the three municipalities, and then, in collaboration with the European Progress program, provided funds for textbooks, manuals and additional teaching aids aimed at improving teaching at 16 primary schools in the three municipalities" Mr. Bektasi said, adding that the Coordination Body’s Office  also supported civic associations’ projects and that the Coordination Body’s Office "will  continue undertaking the activities related to improving the quality of education in the multiethnic municipalities in South Serbia in the future, as well ".

Young people from the political parties that are active in Presevo highlighted the issue of employment as the largest problem.

Since the dialogue on cultural and existential needs of youth was opened, the issue of youth activation, or of the way in which young people could be motivated to  participate not only in the cultural life of Presevo, but also in all other areas, was raised.

It was concluded that the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the local self- government should assume the responsibility for it. 

Source: Jugpress and Coordination Body