THE KOSOVO EDUCATIONAL KNOT

Education

AIM, BELGRADE, March 30, 1998

Is the cutting of the Kosovo educational "Gordian knot" in sight? As matters stand now the final solution is nowhere in sight even after the acceptance of the Protocol on the Implementation of the Agreement on Education in Kosovo which was last week initialled by members of the Contact Group "Three Plus Three" and witnessed by representatives of the Catholic organisation "St.Egedio". There are plenty of reasons for suspicion.

A year has passed since promises were last given and Milosevic and Rugova placed their signatures on the document on "The Normalisation of Educational System for the Albanian Children and Youth in Kosovo". In the meantime, the situation in Kosovo has become even more complicated due to events which have nothing to do with education.

Still, according to some analysts the last week's agreement represents the first political compromise between the two sides since the Serbian police used force against the Albanians early this month and when 80 people were killed.

When on September 1, 1996 it was announced from the highest level that an agreement was reached on the return of students and teachers to schools, this met with the approval (in most cases) of both the Yugoslav and foreign general public. The document which Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Republic of Serbia, and Dr.Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the Kosovo Albanians, signed then stated that this agreement was "above any political discussion" and it was announced that a joint Contact Group was to specify the details on the return of pupils to schools.

Apart from the statement that "the educational system in Kosovo, from the elementary up to the university level, has not been functioning for years", the text did not explicitly state that university education was to be a topic of discussion at the meeting of the "Three Plus Three" Group. Several days ago, i.e. nineteen months after the Milosevic-Rugova Agreement, a document was signed which was supposed to lay down the terms and conditions for the scrapping down of the present system of parallel education which has been functioning for eight years now, but once again this didn't materialise. So much time was needed only to stipulate that by the beginning of the next school year, at the latest, all young Albanians in Kosovo who had studied in private houses and cellars (according to some estimates as many as 340,000 pupils and students), would have to return to educational facilities which they once attended.

As part of their non-violent resistance to the Serbian regime which started after large-scale riots of the Kosovo Albanians in 1981, and particularly 1989, after Kosovo's autonomy was revoked, the Albanian youth abandoned state schools and universities in increasing numbers. Gradually, the Kosovo Albanians established their parallel authorities in the province. After conflicts at the Pristina University over 200 professors lost their jobs and 250 students their right to study. In addition, over 1,000 Albanian students lost their scholarships.

On the pretext of rationalising education, the University of Pristina enrolled a smaller number of students and shifted the emphasis from social to natural sciences. The opportunities for studying, e.g. the Albanian language or history were diminishing as time passed. The exchange of textbooks and professors with the University of Tirana practically ceased. New curricula and syllabi were introduced and Serbia took over the printing of Albanian textbooks. Gradually, students and pupils decided to continue their years-long painstaking studies (which no one recognizes) in private houses. The authorities kept silent as if nothing was amiss, while the Pristina University with rector Papovic at its head, proclaimed itself the pillar of the Serbian national being in Kosovo. Today it is fighting with all available means to retain the role assigned to it.

The only novelty in the recently signed document, relative to the one signed by Milosevic and Rugova, is that the Albanian students and professors are enabled (but in opposite shifts) to use university facilities equitably with college students of Serbian and Montenegrin nationality. It was precisely this decision which caused the eruption of dissatisfaction, this time among the Serbian students, as well as of the dean and professors of the Pristina University. Especially vocal was the reaction of Rector Prof.Dr Dr.Radivoje Papovic who, although a SPS member, strongly opposed the decision of the Serbian authorities and their comment that "the agreement was only the first step in the settlement of the Kosovo situation". Ratomir Vico, Serbian Minister for Relations with Kosovo and one of the signatories to the agreement, even claimed that this document "represents a defeat of separatism which was maintained and renewed precisely in the sphere of education or, better to put it, precisely because of abnormal conditions under which the Albanian children and youth had to study".

Papovic, professors and students of the Pristina University even claimed that "the agreement was illegal and unconstitutional and provided prerequisites for the establishment of Kosovo as a Republic. Protesting for days they have been treading on the toes of the Belgrade regime and warning that this Agreement was raising the Albanian minority to the level of a nation and thereby putting the Republic of Serbia on sale. According to them, for the time being there could be no agreement as far as the University and Kosovo were concerned".

Students from Nis and Banjaluka Universities have already voiced their support to their colleagues from Pristina, while the opinions of the Belgrade graduates are still divided. Even an incident broke out in the Students' Parliament when Mirosav Hristodulo, a representative of students of mathematics said that "those who demand the annulment of the agreement of the Group "Three Plus Three" are war mongering and no patriots, but a disgrace to our society". These words annoyed so much some of the"deputies" that only a fast intervention of the students' security guards prevented open conflict between them and those who thought differently.

And while Pristina students received some kind of support for their acts and stands from their colleagues from other universities, the disobedient rector Papovic and members of the Academic-Scientific Council remained isolated in their opinion as their colleagues (up till now) remained silent. It is also a fact that Papovic had to urgently go to Belgrade and report to Milan Milutinovic, President of Serbia. This good "dressing down", according to the press, did not bear any fruit, nor did the harsh criticism of Ivica Dacic and Ivan Markovic, the SPS i.e. the JUL spokesmen.

Namely, Dacic said that Papovic showed a complete misunderstanding of the agreement: "The signing of the Agreement on Education and reaching a consensus on measures for its implementation represent a defeat of separatism and victory of the reintegration of Kosovo into the educational system of Serbia. Everyone against this Agreement is against the state interests of Serbia", said Dacic. At this Press Conference Markovic from the JUL went even further in criticising such attitudes by calling Papovic a nationalist.

The Albanian students who in recent months often protested in the streets against the non-implementation of the Milosevic-Rugova Agreement and suffered police repression, are silent for the time being. Except for Dr.Fehmi Agani, who for the Albanian side signed the document on the implementation of the Agreement (and naturally, positively assessed the acceptance of this text - "normalisation of education for the Albanian pupils and students is a great thing"), comments of other Albanian politicians are rare. One of the exceptions is Ljuljeta Pulja Beciri, President of the Social-Democratic Party of Kosovo, who thinks that this Agreement should not have been signed: "It prejudices the resolution of the status of Kosovo. We cannot deal with the consequences and disregard the causes. Why should anyone hand us over these buildings? By signing the Agreement we have accepted a cunning game of the Serbian regime, with a blessing of the political centers of power. This question has ceased to be topical five years ago".

After the initialling of the document on the operationalisation of the Agreement it remained unclear whether this was the question of only taking over of the school buildings or of the annulment of parallel educational system and its integration into the existing educational system of Serbia. These are key issues which were a bone of contention between all negotiators until now - an issue because of which all agreements in the last eight years fell through. The announcement shows that problems of financing, management, language, curricula, diplomas, employees, etc. have again remained untackled.

Considering the events in Kosovo and around it, the pressure exerted on both sides by the international community shows that political rather than educational motives are behind the latest signing of "The Agreement on Normalisation of Education in the Province". These motives were present back in 1992, when at Panic's time, Prof.Dr.Ivan Ivic, Federal Minister of Education, initiated negotiations with the Albanian representatives. At these meetings (there were seven, two in Pristina, Belgrade, Geneva and Novi Sad, each) the delegation of the Republic of Serbia was headed by the then Minister of Education, Dr.Danilo Z.Markovic (in contrast to him, the present Minister, Dr.Jovo Todorovic, keeps to himself and does not interfere in the problems of education in Kosovo).

At that time the Albanian side wanted to misuse education for the resolution of the political status of Kosovo, which has not been resolved to this very day. For their part, the officials of Serbia wanted the Albanians to accept the state of Serbia as their own. In an attempt to separate education from politics, a "five-point agreement" was prepared. This document offered normalisation of work at all educational levels with instruction in the Albanian language, from pre-school to university level. Teachers employed in schools and at the university were offered an opportunity to return to work, expect for those who had committed a criminal offence. At that time the Republic of Serbia undertook to fully finance education in Kosovo from its budget and it was also provisionally agreed to follow in the next school year the curricula adopted for 1990 by the Educational Council of Kosovo, in which Albanians accounted for 90 percent. The fifth item of this agreement specified that Serbia would recognize the diplomas acquired in the parallel educational system.

During these negotiations the Albanian representatives demanded to be given not only school buildings, but also the right to prepare their own curricula and finance all levels of education. The offered document was nevertheless attractive for the Albanian side and they thoroughly analysed it. But, while they were stalling and studying its contents, Milan Panic was thrown out of the Federal Government and the whole thing went up in smoke and things were back again from where they started. If an attractive document envisaging the recognition of diplomas and annulment of dismissals was rejected six years ago, what should the Serbian side offer now for the Albanian leaders to tell the young to return to schools or to humour Serbian teachers and students in Pristina in order to agree to an ethnically mixed university after so many years. When this question will be answered remains to be seen.

Olga Nikolic

(AIM)