The Protector of Citizens requested the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to issue a recommendation to all educational institutions in the Republic of Serbia on ensuring the legality and transparency of school facilities lease procedures, since numerous irregularities in the investigation of controlling work legality and regularity of a school in Resnik were identified.
In an own-initiative investigation, the Protector of Citizens determined that Kosta Abrašević Elementary School from Resnik committed an omission in its work when leasing the gym as it did not ensure equal conditions for all the bidding sports clubs nor did it transparently select the one that will lease the gym in 2018/2019 school year.
With a view to ensuring the legality and transparency of the procedures for leasing parts of school facilities and in line with its efforts to rectify systemic shortcomings, the Protector of Citizens requested the competent ministry to issue to all other schools in Serbia as well the recommendation for rectifying the irregularities in the work issued to the Resnik school in order to rectify irregularities in the work and prevent illegal actions in the future.
In the Recommendation, the Protector of Citizens has stated that Resnik school should ensure legality and transparency of the lease selection procedure when disposing of publicly owned property, clearly outline the criteria based on which the best bid will be selected, provide equal conditions for all participants and a straightforward rationale of the decision made. Rectifying the shortcomings provided in the recommendation reduces the possibility of corrupt practices, and more sound economic usage of the space is achieved when it is not used for teaching purposes, which might enhance the conditions of children’s stay in schools.
Given that the recommendations made by this body are of general importance for the activities of educational institutions when disposing with publicly owned property, the Protector of Citizens expects the competent ministry and the school in Resnik to inform him within 15 days about acting upon the recommendations.