CURRICULUM FOR THE SERBS

AIM ZAGREB, October 10, 1997

Until recently the cyrillic alphabet and the Serbian language were observed in Croatia as a historic problem. Namely, it seemed that with the departure of the majority of Serbs from the former UNPA Zones North and South (Krajina), this problem was resolved once and for all. Today things are quite different - in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium there are about 100 thousand Serbs left, who consider the problem of the use of language and alphabet as a top priority political issue - as it is almost certain that the autonomy of the Podunavlje Serbs will be restricted to culture - while some Serbs from other parts of Croatia (the so called "urban Serbs"), irrespective of the possible differences, want their children to have additional education on the foundations of their national culture (which also includes instruction in national history, literature, catechism, history of art and similar subjects) and, in that context, naturally to use the cyrillic alphabet. Although the Croatian government promised on several occasions to apply "the highest standards" in the protection of minority rights, things went wrong from the very beginning, both in Eastern Slavonia as well as in other parts of the country.

Until now, the Serbian Cultural Society (SKD) "Prosvjeta", central cultural institution of the Serbs in Croatia, has registered about 600 children in Croatian towns (outside the region of Podunavlje), who are interested in supplementary instruction for the minorities. Although practically all conditions have been met for the start of supplementary education it has not begun yet because of - according to Dr.Slobodan Uzelac, President of "Prosvjeta" - deliberate obstruction on the part of the Croatian government. The lack of adequate textbooks was used as a pretext. Actually, textbooks exist, but have not been yet approved for the official use.

The experts of "Prosvjeta" have prepared them already several months ago. As envisaged, they sent them to the Ministry for review, but without any explanation and past all deadlines, reviews have not yet been completed. "SKD "Prosvjeta" has done all that was necessary", said Uzelac. "We have started this work already four years ago, aware that if we do not insist on the education of our children concerning our language and culture, no one else will. We had prepared draft curriculum in time, a year ago, and at the end of the last school year received a positive reply from some six hundred children, i.e. their parents to this idea and they should be the first pupils of this school. At the same time we wrote and submitted the textbooks".

However, according to him, the Ministry had obstructed this programme in order to force - by protracted attrition - both parents and children to look for some other supplementary curriculum and abandon the planned instruction. Irrespective of all this, "Prosvjeta" demanded for the instruction for Serbian children to start immediately. "In any case, there are subjects for which textbooks are not even envisaged," said Uzelac. The solution has still not been found.

The Croatian authorities do not consider Serbs in towns so much of a problem. Namely, in addition to education the Serbs in Eastern Slavonia demand equal use of their language and alphabet in the official use (authorities, judiciary, names of places) and the treaties which they have signed with the Croatian government in this transitional period under the patronage of the international community, prove that they are right, at least in principle. Troubles have started already in September, with the beginning of a new school year, when high-school students of Serbian nationality organized demonstrations in Vukovar by going out into the streets to show their dissatisfaction with the way the educational system of Podunavlje was being integrated into the Croatian educational system. The anger of high-school students was probably not quite spontaneous.

Mrs.Ljilja Vokic, Minister of Education, appointed Croatian nationality school head-masters in Podunavlje which gave rise to great bitterness among the local population, but also of the Serbian political leadership as the principals had been appointed disregarding the existing national structure and also because the school names, only in the Croatian language and Latin alphabet - against all signed international agreements - were posted on all secondary schools. What is more, the Croatian Ministry of Education launched a large campaign for the return of Croatian professors to Podunavlje threatening those working in other regions of Croatia with dismissal if they refused to return to these parts.

Therefore, on behalf of pupils and their parents, as well as on their own, teachers of two secondary schools in Vukovar sent a letter addressed to UNTAES requesting "the full respect of the demands of interviewed parents and their children for the conclusion of the initiated programmes, posting of bilingual signs with school names on school facilities and the resolution of the problem of validation of working service over the past six years". The letter underlines the dissatisfaction with the method of appointing school principals as it has not been coordinated with the stands of the Joint Communal Council and UNTAES. There was also a demand for the appointment of principals according to the national affiliation of the pupils. Teachers of the Vukovar High School and Economic School asked the Ministry of Education and Sports for resources necessary for the functioning of these schools, as well as payment of wages for the preceding four months. The Education Board of the Joint Communal Council also sent a letter to the Ministry pointing out the right of Serbs to special schools in the Serbian language.

The Minister Vokic replied to that letter with a memo stating that there were only Croatian schools in Croatia in which, in accordance with Article 4 of the Law on Upbringing and Education in the Languages of Nationalities, classes may be established, and in case of a sufficient number of pupils also schools, to be attended by members of national minorities in their mother tongue, but that such would be established only after the stabilization of the demographic situation in Podunavlje. The distribution of principals' posts has been carried out in accordance with the Agreement of August 4, 1997 according to the development of "the demographic structure of the population", said Minister Vokic. Djuro Podunavac, President of the Educational Board of the Joint Communal Council replied to the Minister stating his dissatisfaction with her answer, and particularly touching upon her thesis that the establishment of Serbian schools would be possible "only after the stabilization of demographic situation". "The letter of the Agreement, but also of the laws of the Republic of Croatia envisage schools in the Serbian language for the Serbs in the region, especially in view of the number of Serbian pupils in these parts, and this right can in no way be denied nor by any means linked to the return of Croats", said Podunavac.

He emphasized that school structures in Podunavlje in no way wished to prevent the return of the Croatian pupils and their parents to these regions, adding that it was nevertheless illogical to appoint principals of Croatian nationality at the time when the majority of both pupils and teachers in these parts were Serbs. "Despite agreements and signed contracts, principals bring Croatian professors and teachers to schools, who in their contacts with pupils and their parents insist on the use of the Croatian language and the Latin alphabet, which is in gross violation of both the Agreement and the law", said Podunavac.

Podunavac pointed out that the Agreement really stated that the appointment of principals would be carried in a fair and unbiased manner, according to the development of the demographic situation, but, according to his opinion, that didn't mean that the nationality of appointed principals should correspond to the demographic situation from 1991. "Had Minister Vokic really been honest, she would have appointed Serbs for principals of schools in Knin or Dvor na Uni, as that would correspond to the demographic picture in these towns in which the Serbs represent an overwhelming majority, although for the time being only the Croatian children go to school there", said Podunavac.

However, the dispute was resolved on a higher level. After a meeting of Dr.Jure Radic, Vice-President of the Croatian Government and Minister for Reconstruction and Development and Mrs.Ljilja Vokic, Minister of Education, with Dr.Vojislav Stanimirovic, President of the SDSS, Dr.Milorad Pupovac and Milos Vojnovic, representatives of the Serbian national community held on September 24, in Zagreb, an agreement was reached on the organization of instruction in the Serbian language in the Croatian Podunavlje, in elementary and secondary schools where the Serbian children are in the majority.

After persistently refusing, Madam Minister revised her present distribution of head-masters' posts in the schools of Podunavlje and took the demographic trend into account, so that in places with the majority of Serbian children the head-master will be a Serbs and his assistant a Croat, and vice versa. Also, educational files of pupils will be - as promised - bilingual and the curriculum prepared with the agreement of representatives of the Serbian national community. As far as textbooks for elementary and secondary schools are concerned, it was agreed to finish their printing in the Serbian language by the end of October. Regarding the teaching of history, Mrs. Vokic proclaimed moratorium in the teaching of this subject for 1989 - 1997 period, so that these years would not be covered by history classes for the Serbian children.

Since the Serbs are the majority population in quite a number of places in the Podunavlje region - and will remain so in many of them as they were in the majority even before the war - the problem becomes even more complex as the educational system will have to be adapted to that fact in a way which has no precedent in other parts of Croatia, with some exceptions, mostly in Istria. The unstable ethnic picture of this region, to which according to the plan the majority of Croats expulsed in 1991 should return, will additionally complicate the already complex situation in these parts. Through Ljilja Vokic, Minister of Education, the Croatian government has announced that even for a single Croatian child in a school full of Serbs, instruction will be organized in the Croatian language. This will by no means be simple to do, the more so because many patterns will be implemented in Croatia for the first time.

BORIS RASETA