Voivodina: Catechism in Schools

In God We Trust, by Creed We are Differentiated

The unconstitutional and rather rash decision of the government is bound to cause most damage in a province without a single ethnically homogenous enclave, with over 20 national minorities and as much as 39 religious communities, where the governmental decree will result in school children being differentiated according to religious creed and ethnic origin

AIM Belgrade, July 31, 2001

Whatever its motive for introducing catechism, i.e. the basics of democracy, into primary and secondary school education - a rather rash decision reached at an unlikely time, in the middle of a school vacation

• the government is destined to encounter major difficulties in enacting this in the province of Voivodina. Unless it is willing to allow for the segregation of children according to religious creed and, consequently, ethnic descent. And this, some claim, is exactly what it will take.

A province with over 20 national minorities and 34 (according to some data, even as many as 39) religious communities, without a single ethnically or religiously homogenous enclave, is bound to suffer most damage because of the unconstitutional, immature and much disputed decision of the government. For one thing, hardly anyone has any idea how the whole thing is to look in practice. But, at least this much is certain: starting with this autumn, parents will be obliged to profess the religious affiliation of their seven-year olds if they wish them placed in classes with the "appropriate" religious instruction. In Voivodina, the sorting out of children according to religion might well turn into a differentiation according to ethnic origin carried out under the motto "In God we trust, by creed we are differentiated!"

When, standing on the steps of an (Orthodox) shrine, Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic let it be known that, "urbi et orbi", catechism is to be introduced into public schools in Serbia, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica did not proclaim a breach of the constitution. If the abrupt unraveling of the dispute in full swing ("for and against catechism in public schools") was a result of purchasing an Orthodox indulgence for the sin of having arranged the hand over of the most famous Hague prisoner on St. Vitus' Day, a red letter day in the Orthodox church calendar, Djindjic paid for the deliverance dearly and with money that is not his to give. While justifying Milosevic's extradition to the Hague with the need of securing "a future for our children", just a few days later, he narrowed that future to but two possible choices: either religious instruction or the basics of democracy as public school subjects.

In an interview to AIM, the Chairman of the provincial Parliament and head of the League of Social Democrats of Voivodina (LSV), Nenad Canak, comments: "All I can say, once a Serb, always in love with Marxism! It seems as if it is practically impossible to set up a proper school system in Serbia which does not involve some sort of mind-molding." The narrowing down of the whole issue to two possible choices, he adds, is as simplistic and as predictable as possible, to the point of being in poor taste. "This is a strategic issue. I believe this should be avoided at any cost. For, the right of any individual to believe or not to believe, just as its right to choose what to believe in, is one of the basic human rights, not to be tampered with. Let the church build its own schools instead of sneaking into public ones. That is where the problem lies. Why are there no attempts to reconstruct the school system by establishing private schools with tuition programs of their own, taught in this or that mother-tongue? Why does not the church set up its own schools, if necessary, financed from local self-management funds which would enroll children whose parents want them to be brought up in a certain spirit? Why force a whole nation to be baptized, in one way or another? The practice of religious conversion has never brought any good to Voivodina, so what is to make us believe it might be any different now?" says Canak.

In an answer to our question if it was possible that, following yet another octroyed constitution, we might wake up in a country defined by its supreme law as a state of Serbs of Orthodox persuasion in which other religions will be tolerated, Canak says: " That's just it, I doubt they will be tolerated... Because the Taliban surrounding Kostunica are bent on making an Orthodox Jamahiriya, a purely religious state practically, not even a national one. This is exactly what is going on at the moment, combined with growing fascist tendencies. What we are dealing with here is not fascism spread by means of state repression, but a sort of fascism permeating every single pore of the social tissue, motivating and mobilizing the needy and the social psychopaths to, say, brutally beat protesting homosexuals today, only to switch to those who bathe much too often in view of the local hygienic tradition tomorrow - up to whacking anyone and everyone daring to distance himself even slightly from the pervading milieu of hopelessness and terror. No economic boom will do the job. What is needed is a thorough and complex process of denazification, accompanied by a steady recovery of the economy and incessant questioning of the results achieved."

With as much subtlety as that of an elephant in a china shop, the church and the government have intruded upon the privacy of the citizens, turning a right into an obligation. A high official of the Reformists of Voivodina (RV), Djordje Subotic, an MP in the provincial Parliament, confronted his parliamentary colleagues with the following question: what do they plan to do in order to protect the children of their constituents from religious segregation, i.e. what measures have they undertaken in order to prevent the enactment of the unconstitutional decree in Voivodina? An adamant adversary of mixing state and church business, Subotic says: "In a round-about-way, state religion is being introduced into our society." The news that catechism or, as an alternative, the basics of democracy, are to be introduced into the curriculum of the first grades of primary and secondary schools, accidentally or not, coincided with the announcement that Voivodina will be restituted the authority to deal with matters concerning cultural and educational issues in the province, a statement given by the vice-president of the provincial parliament, Dusko Radosavljevic. But, how many of these promises and when, if ever, will come true? Will they turn out to be idle aspirations? That remains to be seen, yet one thing is certain: at present, Voivodina has no authority over the educational process.

The provincial Minster of Education, Zoltan Bunjik, says: "As for my Secretariat, no one ever consulted us on the issue of religious instruction in public schools. In fact, we have no official confirmation that such a decision was ever reached." Bunjik is of the opinion that the introduction of new subjects into the curriculum calls for, at least, a yearlong preparatory period. "I believe that valid expert decisions concerning education should be made at least two to three months in advance. In this respect, I view the governmental decree to introduce religious instruction into public schools as a premature decision," he says.

Vojislav Milovanovic, the Republic Minister of Faiths, claims that religious instruction in Serbia will be carried out in keeping with the denominational principle, with the necessary textbooks and qualified religious instructors for all religious communities. Grades are to be descriptive, while the first month of instruction will be a preparatory period for the introduction of the new subject.

It seems that the educational authorities have yielded the initiative to the aggressive ministries of faith and that they too were taken by surprise. The state Co-Minister of Education Vigor Majic, the first to take a stand against the introduction of religious instruction into public schools by resigning, claims that the decision had been reached as early as April: he was summoned to a meeting in the Ministry of Faiths by phone, there he encountered the representatives of various religious communities ("a conspiratorial group") and found out that all was already settled and that the whole thing was to be kept a secret; when he tried to warn of the technical difficulties involved, he was not allowed to speak.

Of the Voivodina political parties, the first to react were the Reformists of Voivodina, explicit in their opposition to the introduction of catechism into public schools, be it as a compulsory or as an optional subject. Cautioning against the fact that merely six "of the 39 registered religious communities in the province" will, in fact, have religious instructors in schools, they also pointed out that nationality and religious affiliation are not one and the same thing. What is to be with the Romanians, Ruthenians or even Serbs who are not Orthodox ?

Criticism coming from the LSV is aimed at two aspects of the problem simultaneously, the educational and the constitutional one: "Once more, the government of Serbia has remained blind to the problems of Voivodina and to that of education as a whole. It is high time that a decentralization of education be carried out." Projects such as the one proposed are costly, meaning additional means will be needed; knowing the sorry state schools are in already and the meager salaries of the educators, would it not be better to use those means, the LSV asks, for the improvement of the teaching process and bettering of the financial situation of the educational cadre?

The reaction of the public in Voivodina, particularly that of the educators and pedagogues, is surprisingly indifferent. No debates whether democracy and tolerance can be taught by means of a single subject ensued. No public concern over how religious instruction on one side and "democratic" instruction on the other, might effect relations between children...

Furious, a mother of two primary school kids says she will demonstrate against the introduction of catechism into schools, by herself, if need be. A baptized Catholic, as a child she herself attended catechism ("precisely why I don't want to subject my children to it"), her children were baptized in the Orthodox church, but if, by some chance, her husband had not been a believer, she would have raised them as Catholics, nevertheless forbidding them to attend religious instruction in school. Her story is but one of many similar.

It is hard to believe that tolerance and ecumenical goodwill will result from all this in the end. After all, let us not forget how, a few years ago, the bishop of Backa Irinej (Bulovic), forbid the holding of a children's cultural festival, traditionally staged at the end of Zmaj Jovina street, in front of the monument dedicated to the poet and in the immediate vicinity of the bishopric in Novi Sad. Apparently, the clamor of children interfered with the deep contemplation of his holiness. So, the bishop threatened to order church bells rung until the insufferable noise stops. He won. The bells are not tolling and the children are clamoring elsewhere.

MILENA PUTNIK

(AIM)