The Resen municipality is awarding 5,000 denars in one-off financial support for every child starting first grade this year. The public call is open until 12 August, and five primary schools operate in the municipality, with more than 100 first-graders enrolled so far.

The arithmetic is simple: about half a million denars for the whole measure. For a budget the size of Resen's that is not a negligible item, but it is not something that will break it either.

Five thousand denars against the real bill

Parents know what it costs to kit out a first-grader. Backpack, notebooks, stationery, gym shoes, clothes that no longer fit because the child grew. Five thousand denars is around 80 euros. It is a good start and it is nowhere near the full sum.

But that is exactly why the measure makes sense. It does not pretend to solve everything - it covers the hardest week of August, the one when every expense arrives at once, before payday.

A local measure that does not exist everywhere

What stands out is not the amount, but the fact that this kind of support depends on which municipality the child lives in. A first-grader in Resen gets 5,000 denars. A first-grader in the neighbouring municipality - that depends on what the council there decided.

That is the logic of local self-government and it has its justification: municipalities know their own needs best. But when it comes to entering compulsory education, the difference between children is not created by need - it is created by geography.

Resen did something concrete and that should be said without qualification. The question left standing is why a measure like this is news, instead of being the rule.