Area: "\u0160olstvo"
Competent authority: MDDSZ, MIZS
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 1082
Initiative accepted and completed: '2020-12-17'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2020-11-27'
Initiative published: '2020-11-27'
Initiative submitted: '2020-11-26'
Response from the competent authority: "Reply from the Ministry of Labour, Family,\
  \ Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities:The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social\
  \ Affairs and Equal Opportunities (hereinafter: the Ministry) first of all explains\
  \ that the Scholarship Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No.56/13,\
  \ 99/13 - ZUPJS-C, 8/16, 61/17 - ZUP\u0160 and 31/18; hereinafter: Z\u0160tip-1)\
  \ defines exceptional achievements in Article 24. Exceptional achievements include,\
  \ inter alia, top positions and gold and silver awards in knowledge or research\
  \ at national competitions co-financed from public funds. An applicant may claim\
  \ an outstanding achievement achieved during his/her education at the level of education\
  \ for which he/she is claiming a Zois scholarship for the same level of education\
  \ for which he/she is claiming a Zois scholarship, and a single achievement may\
  \ be claimed only once.According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport\
  \ (hereinafter referred to as the \"MESS\"), in the 2019/2020 school or academic\
  \ year, 43 out of the 68 competitions at national level were not completed. According\
  \ to the provisions of the Law on Education and Sports (Z\u0160tip-1) and the data\
  \ provided by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Slovenia\
  \ (MIZ\u0160), the outstanding achievements from this school or study year cannot\
  \ be taken into account, as this would put those who did not have the opportunity\
  \ to participate in the national competition and thus obtain an outstanding achievement\
  \ in the school or study year 2019/2020, which could be claimed for the Zois scholarship,\
  \ in an unequal position.The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has therefore\
  \ decided to adopt the following provisions in the Law on Temporary Measures to\
  \ Mitigate and Eliminate the Consequences of COVID-19 (Official Gazette of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia, No. 152/20; hereinafter: ZIUOOPE) stipulated that an applicant for\
  \ the award or continued award of a Zois scholarship at the same level of education\
  \ in the school or academic year 2020/2021 may claim an outstanding achievement\
  \ achieved during the course of education at the level of education for which he/she\
  \ is claiming a Zois scholarship, except for an outstanding achievement from the\
  \ year 2019/2020, whereby he/she may also claim a scientific research thesis or\
  \ a scientific contribution in a professional or scientific publication or proceedings\
  \ published in the school or academic year 2019/2020 (57. This decision pursues\
  \ the principle of equal treatment and the principle of equality. As many as 43\
  \ out of 68 competitions organised in the school or academic year 2019/2020 were\
  \ not held at national level. These are competitions in which participants can win\
  \ silver and gold awards, which are considered outstanding achievements in the application\
  \ of the Zois Scholarship. To qualify for a Zois Scholarship, the applicant must\
  \ demonstrate a satisfactory average grade and an outstanding achievement. The Zois\
  \ Scholarship is awarded on the basis of a public call for applications launched\
  \ by the Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter referred to as the 'Public Fund'). The total\
  \ amount of funds available under this year's call for applications is EUR 3 500\
  \ 000,00. The call for applications stipulates in point 3 Classification and selection\
  \ of scholarship holders that in the event that more applicants for the Zois scholarship\
  \ apply for the call for applications than there are funds available, the applicants\
  \ who have achieved a higher number of points for outstanding achievements will\
  \ be eligible for the Zois scholarship. In all years to date, more applicants have\
  \ met the eligibility criteria for the Zois Scholarship than there were funds available,\
  \ and the Public Fund has therefore ranked applicants' applications on the basis\
  \ of their higher score for outstanding achievement. Applicants who demonstrate\
  \ a higher number of points for outstanding achievement are selected for the scholarship.\
  \ If the outstanding achievements achieved in the 2019/2020 academic year were also\
  \ taken into account for the Zois Scholarship for the 2020/2021 academic year, only\
  \ 37% of the students (25 competitions held) would be able to claim this achievement,\
  \ while the remaining 63% of the students would not be able to claim the achievement.\
  \ As the Zois Scholarship is awarded using the demarcation rules, where the scholarship\
  \ is awarded to those applicants who show a higher score for outstanding achievement,\
  \ 37% of students would be in a better position. In order to achieve equal treatment\
  \ and to establish a level playing field for all those who applied in the 2020/2021\
  \ academic year, outstanding achievements from the 2019/2020 academic year will\
  \ not be taken into account.The Public Fund has not yet evaluated all the applications\
  \ submitted for the award of a Zois scholarship in the school or academic year 2020/2021.\
  \ However, the Public Fund has completed the ranking of the group of primary school\
  \ pupils (hereafter referred to as \"primary school pupils\") enrolled in the first\
  \ year of secondary education in the school year 2020/2021. In the 2020/2021 school\
  \ year, 957 Zois scholarships were awarded in the primary school group. 913 Zois\
  \ scholarships were awarded in the 2019/2020 school year, 941 in the 2018/2019 school\
  \ year and 938 in the 2017/2018 school year in the Primary School group. This shows\
  \ that more scholarships were awarded in the 2020/2021 school year than in the previous\
  \ three years. The higher number of awards is due to the fact that the Ministry\
  \ has allocated a higher amount of funds for this year's call for applications[1]\
  \ . We should add that in the Primary Schools group, there were more applicants\
  \ for the Zois scholarship who met the conditions than there were funds available,\
  \ and therefore applicants who achieved a higher number of points for outstanding\
  \ achievements were eligible for the Zois scholarship - the Public Fund had to apply\
  \ the delimitation rules this year as well.On the question of whether the achievements\
  \ of the 2019/2020 school year and the 2020/2021 school year will be taken into\
  \ account at all when deciding whether to award the Zois scholarship in the following\
  \ 2021/2022 school year, the Ministry explains that the Law on Temporary Measures\
  \ to Mitigate and Eliminate the Consequences of COVID-19 (Official Gazette of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia, No. 152/20 and 175/20 - ZIUOPDVE; hereinafter: ZZUOOPOP)\
  \ provides that an applicant for the award or continued award of a Zois scholarship\
  \ in the school or academic year 2021/2022 may claim an outstanding achievement\
  \ achieved in the school or academic year 2018/2019 and in the school or academic\
  \ year 2020/2021, and that he/she may also claim a scientific research thesis or\
  \ a scientific contribution in a professional or scientific publication or proceedings\
  \ published in the school or academic year 2019/2020 and in the school or academic\
  \ year 2020/2021, as the case may be. It follows from the above that it will not\
  \ be possible to claim an achievement from the school year 2019/2020 in the school\
  \ year 2021/2022 either (Article 80 of the MESCCE).Answer from the Ministry of Education,\
  \ Science and Sport:Which competitions will be held, as well as the timing and manner\
  \ of their implementation, cannot be answered at this time due to the unclear epidemiological\
  \ situation, and different scenarios are being prepared.Should students return to\
  \ school under certain conditions, the competitions will be held according to a\
  \ new timetable/calendar to be prepared by the Institute of Education of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia (IESL). In case, notwithstanding the possible relaxation of the measures,\
  \ certain restrictions on grouping, movement, wearing of masks, etc., will remain\
  \ in force, At the same time, discussions are underway with the competition operators\
  \ to ensure that, in the event of a prolonged school closure or partial opening\
  \ (lower grades), at least some activities (e.g. school level competitions) can\
  \ be conducted online, in order to find solutions for the physical conduct of the\
  \ competitions at national level only.The MoEYS, together with the MoEYSD, for which\
  \ the achievements in the competitions are a key criterion for the award of Zois\
  \ scholarships, is also considering extending the timing of the competitions over\
  \ the summer holidays or perhaps even into September 2021, which is possible under\
  \ the Rules on the Co-financing of School Competitions under the Competence of the\
  \ MoEYSD.[1] The total amount of funds available under this year's call for tenders\
  \ is EUR 3 500 000,00, compared to EUR 2 800 000,00 in the previous two years."
Text file: 1082.txt
Title: Eligibility for the Zois Scholarship for secondary school pupils in 2020/2021
  or 2021/2022
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=1082
