Schools Ordered To Save, But Also To Buy Expensive Scales

Austria’s embattled finance ministry has been dragged into a new scandal after it emerged that at the same time as demanding schools save 57 Millionen Euros in the coming year, they were also expected to find an additional 3 million to buy an approved set of weighing scales.

The scales are not just any weighing scales, they need to be calibrated, and according to an education ministry directive once a year they need to be serviced to make sure they remain calibrated.

And schools that failed to meet the demand were told this week they were being fined, in some cases more than 2,000 Euros.

The cost of the devices is 331 per device, plus 46  Euros a year to calibrate and an incredible 85 Euros for the calibration certificate.

With 6,800 schools in the country, that is 3.1 million Euros.

The three ministers for education, health and the economy have all passed the blame to the other.