Joint Education in B&H

Cyrillic/Latin Alphabet Like Hieroglyphs

AIM SARAJEVO, September 21, 2000

Five years after the signing of the peace treaty in B&H, the new school year began with a first rate news on children of all three nations attending the same classes! The latest news is also that schools controlled by "one side" will admit "the other" and "the third". The Office of the High Representative (OHR) says that, compared to the last and previous years, there are fewer cases of "one side" refusing admittance to "the other" or "third side" if not to the same classes, then to the same school building.

This May, Ministers in charge of education from both entities, Nenad Suzic and Fahrudin Rizvanbegovic, and Deputy Federal Minister Ivo Mijo Jovic, signed (another) agreement which should make B&H education more uniform: the Agreement clearly states that "all existing forms of segregation have to be removed from parallel systems of education in the B&H Federation and the Republic of Srpska, and that it is necessary to ensure their coordination in order to facilitate the return".

The Agreement further points out "that common elements which enable inter-cultural understanding and communication have to be emphasised and included in all curricula and corresponding textbooks, as well as that measures should be undertaken for the organised broad-national teaching of Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, of joint literary and cultural heritage of all three communities, as well as of all world religions practised in B&H."

At the meetings presided over by Matei Hoffmann, Senior-Deputy of the High Representative for B&H, the parties signed the Agreement which, inter alia, stipulates that "Curricula and textbooks for national subjects must relate to B&H. All diplomas and certificates must be recognised and accepted all over the country so as to enable the mobility of pupils, students, teachers, instructors and other teaching experts."

Only two months later, on July 21, signatories to the Agreement forwarded "arguments" against its application. Some even claimed that they had signed it illegally (!?) That is why, at the beginning of this school year, schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not teach both alphabets, nor literary works and authors, nor history and religion of "the other two entities".

Asked about the reasons for this, Deputy Minister in the Federal Government, Ivo Mijo Jovic, responded that "it is not pedagogic for children to learn the other alphabet before their fourth grade and after that they can learn it for perhaps only half a year." Commenting on the use of two alphabets, he said that it was the intention of the international community to impose the learning of both alphabets from the very beginning of the school year and to deprive the Croats in B&H of their script. He wondered whether the teaching of two scripts would, for example, mean that the biology textbook would be printed in the combination of these two: a few pages in Latin alphabet and a few in Cyrillic? His colleague from the Republic of Srpska saw no reason for children in "his" entity to dedicate 40, out of the total 150, literature classes to lesson about Bosniac, i.e. Croatian authors. "The programme is already too large", said the Deputy Minister. In other words, the situation remained unchanged - children in RS learn Cyrillic, in the Cantons of the B&H Federation with the majority Croatian population Latin, and only in Cantons with the Bosniac majority both scripts equally. RS schools teach only authors of the Serbian nation, while Croatian Cantons children learn about only Croatian authors. In the Bosniac Cantons pupil mostly study the Bosniac writers. At the same time, demands for the civil defence lessons to be replaced by the study of human rights have not been carried out in practice either.

To the international community's comment that three current curricula and teaching programmes in B&H were at least thirty years behind their time compared to Europe and that without a joint teaching core in the curricula and teaching plans schooling in B&H would not be recognised and accepted by European standards, the Minister's office promptly responded: "A great number of young people has left B&H and gone abroad and no one has yet complained of their poor education or of them being lazy and poor worker" (Jovic for TV B&H).

For the time being, the Bosniac Minister Fahrudin Rizvanbegovic, who four years ago advocated "ethnically cleansed classes", is only watching and listening to his colleagues and trying to cooperate with the international community. At this moment, objectively speaking, the Bosniac entity has raised least objections.

While B&H officials for education are having marathon negotiations of the deaf, the European Commission is announcing "expert assistance" in the harmonisation of textbooks and curricula (foreign experts who would work together with the local). According to their estimate, the whole thing with education is progressing only verbally. "Very little has been done and everything has resulted in nothing but resolutions and agreements, and progress in theory!" told AIM Frane Marovic, the EU spokesman. On the other hand, there are unofficial indications from the Office of the High Representative that Wolfgang Petritsch could simply proclaim, i.e. impose a joint teaching core (like Switzerland).

"The Swiss model could be best suited for the B&H situation. There you have three Cantons and three totally different languages, but it could never happen for a child to have educational problems when transferring from one Canton to another. There are simply some things which are common for the entire state. In B&H the transferable educational contents would favour freedom of movement and right of return", explained Oleg Milisic, the OHR spokesman. Also, in various parts of B&H OHR has organised several round tables dedicated to education, which were attended by representatives of students, parents, teachers, non-governmental organisations and the Government sector. Even after such meetings, the problem of joint curricula remained open - children, parents and NGOs wanted one thing, and all the others (the authorities) something else!

UNSECO also prepared a project for the development of the so called "self-government in schools" - one part of curricula and teaching programmes, let's say 20 percent, would be common for the entire country, while schools would elaborate the remaining 80 percent. Under such a scenario, by means of PCs schools in B&H, or in one Canton or entity, would be networked. In turn, this would ensure the coordination and necessary mutual recognition of diplomas and acceptability of students! However, this project remained a dead letter in B&H.

And while the situation remains as it is, children in three "realities" of B&H learn from three sets of textbooks: in F B&H parts with Bosniac majority population they study from the Bosnian&Herzegovinian ones from 1994, in RS from 1995 textbooks, as well as those imported from Yugoslavia (to RS) and in the so called Herzeg-Bosnia from those coming from Croatia. Although already last year the agreements have been signed envisaging the exclusion of textbooks from FR Yugoslavia and Croatia, and the crossing out all insulting and scientifically unproven statements from textbooks for national subjects (language, history, geography, etc.) written in B&H, only a small part of this job was finished by the beginning of the new school year. The Office of High Representative accepted the explanation of competent authorities and again agreed to a compromise - start of this school year will mark the beginning of the second stage in the control of national textbooks, i.e. of crossed out contents and of possible new additional wiping out. At the same time, OHR agreed to allow further use of the "imported" textbooks, but with additional annexes. OHR explained this with "a large number of textbooks that was in question, that there was no money for the printing of new ones at the time when curricula and teaching programmes were being coordinated, and that it would be impossible to organise instruction without these currently used textbooks".

In all fairness, the World Bank has promised a large favourable loan for the printing of new textbooks, but only after the completed harmonisation of curricula and teaching programmes. This, however, in the first place requires political will which will be best demonstrated in the agreement on the (non)study of that B&H history pertaining to the most recent war. The Council of Europe and the Council for the Implementation of Peace have recommended the introduction of a kind of a ten-year moratorium on these years after which historians in B&H and world at large, as well as international institutions, primarily the Hague Tribunal, would offer their conclusions. According to some - this is a good recommendation, and others think that it is not so bad. Until these historic facts are determined, schools could teach UN resolutions.

According to yet others, the interpretation of historic facts should be left to authors of textbooks - and if it turns out later on that a textbook is not adequate and the author refuses to correct the "marked" parts, a new author should be found! Interestingly, representatives of the same national group or political party had different stands! Here, too, the High Representative was authorised to bring the final decision, but for the time being OHR restricted itself to the organisation of several round tables aimed at giving representatives of pupils, parents and NGOs opportunity to state their opinion and help reach the final decision.

At the same time, according to Miodrag Zivanovic, professor from Banjaluka, there are five histories in B&H: "Three national, one told by the refugees and the history presented by representatives of the international community. Question is which of these five materials will be taught?" And until the people in charge agree, children will learn subject and predicate from sentences like the one which says that "Chetniks have slaughtered three people". Naturally, unless OHR crosses it out with a thick black marker!

In the meantime, for the umpteenth time and using God knows what criteria, OHR has composed a commission and entrusted it with the task of preparing the contents of possible new textbooks. The Commission is working under a shroud of secrecy, and there are "rumours" that the secrecy of its members is well paid from the international community funds. Even when someone's name is revealed he shuns journalists like the devil with the explanation that the whole process is still underway, that it is "alive" and that any public comment might be counterproductive.

There are many other undertaken obligations and signed promises concerning education: the Agency for the Evaluation of the Pupils' and Students' Knowledge, process of the verification and recognition of diplomas from different parts of B&H, employment of teachers and professors - returnees, etc. There were even announcements of the establishment of a special service within OHR to which parents could report irregularities "on the ground". But, it all seems too much for a new school year. For example, in the Tuzla Canton (B&H Federation) alone, some 50 thousand elementary school pupils did not start the school year on time because of the teachers' strike in 70 schools! Reasons are of economic nature: wages are late. They got the June salary only on August 28! As usual, no one asks children anything. They can see and feel for themselves that something is wrong, but there is not much they can do. Elementary education, which is burdened with the greatest number of problems, is compulsory. Even if the alphabet (Latin or Cyrillic) is incomprehensible like hieroglyphs to a child returning from one entity to the other.

But, were it only for alphabets and curricula, the solution would be simple. The shadow cabinet has offered one - its expert team has prepared a uniform curricula "Bosniac, Croatian and Serbian languages in the Literature of B&H" which equally treats authors from the entire B&H. In other words, writers do not mind, and children wouldn't either. But it is not up to the writers and children. Unfortunately it depends more on the politics and political will.

Rubina CENGIC

(AIM Sarajevo)