Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

universities, pursuant to approved programs of
education which lead to a degree with adequate
qualifications, competences or levels of education
and which are financed from public funds. Informal
education refers to all programs, educational
activities and learning processes delivered outside
the schooling system, Just as formal education, it is
also organized and institutional, but it does not lead
to social verification of acquired knowledge and
achievements through award of national
qualifications and levels of education, and most
often it is not financed from public funds 23 .
The principle of lifelong learning is difficult to
apply without a developed and regulated system of
informal education, which should complement the
formal system. Unfortunately, in Serbia, education
of adults still is seen only as compensatory. Thus it
is mostly at the level of teaching illiterates how to
read and write and helping the ever younger
dropouts complete primary education.
According to LSMS 2007 12 percent of young
people aged 15-24 years attend some form of
vocational training. The highest percentage (9.9
percent) attend specific courses (languages,
computers, driving) while far fewer young people
attend training and seminars. For those aged 19-24,
attendance of various programs of informal
education dropped by 1 percent over the last five
years. Men are still more frequently attending
various courses and training (17 percent compared
to 4 percent), as well as young people from outside
urban areas (16 percent compared to 8 percent).
Interestingly, these forms of education mostly
include young people from households whose heads
have secondary education. Participation of young
people from South East Serbia has increased
relative to 2002. Since these programs involve
additional expenses it is not surprising that youths
from the poorest families do not attend informal
education.
Among employed people aged 15-24, 6
percent of the male population and 14 percent of the
female population are students, while 0.4 percent of
the male population and 1.4 percent of the female
population attend secondary school while working
at the same time. This indicates that young women
are investing more in further education than young
men.
According to LSMS 2007 data, 42 percent of
the sampled Roma population aged 15-24 has not
completed primary school, while this figure is 2
percent for the entire sample of young people.
Roma students make up the highest proportion of
adult attendees within schools.
In order to increase participation of young
people in various training, skills and qualifications,
it is necessary to expand the number of available
programs, their availability, and regulate informal
education through a structured approach.
8.6. Financing of education by
various stakeholders
8.6.1. Participation of various levels
of government in financing of
education
The percentage of GDP spent and total public
expenditure for financing of education represents key
indicators. The percentage spent for education out of
total public expenditures of Serbia was 10 percent in
2007, which is a 4 percent increase relative to 2002.
The percentage of GDP for education was 3.5
percent in 2007, which is considerably below the
average in OECD countries (5.4 percent of GDP and
12.9 percent of public expenditure).
The Law on Budget for 2007 involves plans to
spend 58.4 billion dinars of budgetary finance for
education. Out of the above amount, 49 percent is
allocated to preschool and primary education, 23
Education
percent to secondary education, 18 percent to
postsecondary non-university, and university
education, 2 percent to the living standard of pupils,
and 4 percent to the living standard of students. Other
funds are allocated to the operation of the Ministry of
Education and Sports Institute for evaluating the
quality of education and the Institute for
improvement of quality of education. The bulk of
those funds are spent for payroll (over 90 percent in
primary education), while the average outlays for
payroll in EU 24 countries are at 76 percent . In 2008
the Ministry of Education moved to budgeting by
programs, which allowed for, among other things, a
considerable increase of expenditures on education.
The budget for 2008 has allocated 105.7 billion
dinars from budget financing, which is 16 percent of
total budgeted expenditure of Serbia.
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