The Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family proposed instituting a common schooling allowance for first graders. A bill to this effect is to be submitted to the Government. If it is approved, it will be debated in Parliament. The Ministry considers that the law should take effect on January 1, 2014, IPN reports.

The allowance setting and payment method will be described in regulations that will be approved by the Government. The Ministry suggests that the allowance should be equal to the monetary value of the minimum basket of goods needed for the first grade at school, based on the calculations done by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The allowance will be paid to parents or legal representatives of children, both socially insured and socially uninsured persons. The money for allowances will be allocated from the state social insurance budget.

Currently, only the children from socially deprived families and families with many children receive financial assistance for schooling. The sum is decided by the local authorities, depending on the financial resources available in the local social support funds.

About 30,000 children go to the first grade annually.