The students of Sarajevo University announced on Monday they would hold mass protests that “Sarajevo has not seen in its history” if their tuition fees are not reduced by 30 percent, the request they addressed to the authorities twice but without positive feedback.

Addressing a press conference, Student Parliament President Faruk Devic reminded that the students’ request was ignored by both the previous and current composition of the Sarajevo Canton government, although the students have been trying to solve the issue of tuition fees for a year.

The situation got worse with the shift onto the online classes during the pandemic, said Devic, stressing that students got no support of the government.

“The tactic of ignoring is being used again. They think we will stop. But, these are not made up problems. The only answer that we got was the one from MP (Haris) Zahiragic who asked this question in the parliament. He was told that the Sarajevo Canton government was not in charge of independently deciding on this initiative,” said Devic.

He stressed that the amount the students are paying is not adequate for what they get in return.

“The medicine students pay 6,000 marks (approx 3,000 euros) to hear the heartbeats via the Internet. This press conference is the last call for the prime minister and the Sarajevo Canton government to find a way to reduce the tuition fees for all students of the Sarajevo University by 30 percent. If that's not done, we will continue using all democratic means. One of them is a mass protest of students. If this goes on, we will organise a protest that Sarajevo has not seen in its history. If that's ignored too, we will call on our colleagues to boycott the tuition fees,” said Devic.