Dear Sir or Madam,
I am the mother of a secondary school student who finished her first year at the general grammar school in Novo mesto last year. In the 2019/20 school year, she achieved excellent results with an average grade of 4.92. She has also participated in several competitions and, among others, won a gold award at the Popri competition and a silver award at the European Statistical Games, both of which are considered outstanding achievements under the Rules on the awarding of Zois scholarships (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 35/14, as amended). In August this year, we submitted an application for a Zois scholarship to the Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (the Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia). At the beginning of November, we received a decision that our daughter was not eligible for the scholarship because, according to Article 57 of the Law on Intervention Measures to Mitigate and Eliminate the Consequences of the COVID-19 Epidemic (ZIUOOPE), published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 80/2020, only the achievements of the years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 for the school year 2020/2021, or the achievements of the years 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 for the school year 2021/2022, are claimed as outstanding achievements. The disappointment of the rejection of the application was great. We understand that the previous school year has been added as a criterion for the award of the scholarship because of the epidemic, but we do not understand that the achievements made in the 2019/2020 school year are not taken into account and, if we understand the decision correctly, will not be taken into account for the 2021/2022 school year either. Also in the 2019/2020 school year, in order to win prizes and achievements, pupils had to show adequate knowledge, they had to prepare for competitions, they had to do research, etc. I believe that the conditions are discriminatory, they have a bad impact on good and successful pupils and I fully understand why young people choose to go abroad after finishing their education.
Given the current situation, with a second epidemic declared in the country (due to the spread of coronavirus), I would like an answer on whether the achievements of the 2019/2020 school year and the 2020/2021 school year will be taken into account when deciding whether to award the Zojs scholarship in the next 2021/2022 school year, or whether all competitions will be cancelled in this school year. I would also like to know how many pupils are not eligible for a Zois scholarship this year because of the non-recognition of achievements from 2019/2020 and whether fewer scholarships have been awarded in the 2020/2021 school year because of the coronavirus.