The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia believes that it would be an infringement on the right to equality before the law from Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, in connection to the rights from Articles 49 and 57 of the Constitution, if students taking part in practical training, unlike all others students and employees, did not have a comparably (legally) defined right to school lunch. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia accepted the position of the Ombudsman and committed to legal regulation.

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The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) was informed of the question of the right to provision or financing of school lunch for students of secondary vocational education during the time when they are taking part in practical training with a work placement within their educational programme. The students who generally have the right to subsidised school meals supposedly remain without lunch during the period of practical training at an employer since, according to the current legislation, they are not entitled to subsidised meals in this part of their education. The Ombudsman was made aware of a letter of the (then) Ministry of Education, Science and Sport from January 2023, which states that in accordance with the provisions of the School Meals Act (ZŠolPre-1) the school does not provide lunch when students are undertaking practical training, which is otherwise a component part of the educational programme, but is not class and takes place outside the school premises, frequently in a different town. As discerned from the letter, while students are undertaking practical work placements, lunch is provided according to sectoral collective agreements or contracts concluded between schools and employers.

This content was also included in the agenda of the 6th meeting of the Committee on Education, Science and Youth of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia on 07/06/2023; the Committee rejected an amendment proposing that the diction of Article 4 of the ZŠolPre-1 be changed to define that school meals according to this law means organised meals of pupils and students on the days when classes take place according to the school calendar and during periods of practical training with work.

The Ombudsman found that both students during classes and employees have certain legally defined rights in relation to meals according to the employment contract, and only the group of students who undertake practical training with work are treated significantly differently, both in relation to other students and to employees.

 The Ombudsman addressed this issue to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The final position of both ministries was comparable – they recognise the problem but each said it should be solved by the other ministry. The Ombudsman then proposed that the Government of the Republic of Slovenia help in solving the problem. The Ombudsman believes that, from the perspective of protecting the rights of individuals, it is not important which legislative sector the question is solved in, but solving it on the level of collective agreements or even contracts between schools and employers is not appropriate. This would not suitably provide for the comparable protection of the rights of students on practical training placements and other students or employees according to the employment contract with the same employer.

In its response, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia explained that it turned out that the most suitable solution is the amendment of the Vocational Education Act, in which it will have to be explicitly stated among the duties of the employer that while attending practical training placements, students must be provided with meals or have their meal costs reimbursed in the amount of the cost of a meal, defined based on the law regulating school meals. In addition, it will be necessary to add to the misdemeanour provisions a basis for punishing the employer for a misdemeanour if they do not fulfil their duties.

Thus, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, the valid regulation does not consider the demand for comparable treatment of persons in comparable positions; however, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia did commit to eliminate the problem with the appropriate legislative amendment. The Ombudsman expects the relevant change to be realised as soon as possible. 19.1-21/2023