Segregation in Education: Two Schools under one Roof
Bosnian children grow up in mono-ethnic communities not being able to acknowledge the beauties of multicultural country. Even though they learn that the Earth is round, their world is flat, bordered at every 50 kilometers. The biggest problem is the fact that they are divided right through the educational system that is supposed to be created in a way to foster integration. Unfortunately, segregation continues to stay in the focus of their every-day life.
“Two schools under one roof” is a phenomenon that has existed in the educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2003. In such system children from different ethnic belonging (Bosniak and Croat) attend schools located in the same building, having different curriculum programs, using different languages and textbooks. Therefore, students are not only physically separated, but divided in educational sense based on their ethnic belonging. Not in every, but in most of the cases, students attend schools at the different shifts or enter school building through different doors, sometimes using different stairwells as well. This phenomenon has been present in two cantons of BiH Federation: Herzegovina-Neretva and Central Bosnia, which are populated by Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks. It is perceived as a direct consequence of Croat-Bosniak war (1992–1994) and the creation of self-proclaimed regime of Herzeg-Bosnia on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This issue represents a clear example of ethnic segregation of children, and it is a usual topic for political discussion both in and outside the BiH borders. That fact is by all means threatening for the future prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because it creates segregation in the most fundamental stage of individual development of children, teaching them that the concept in itself is normal and usual, and not discriminatory as it is in reality. Instead of misperceiving the importance of education, it should be treated as the crucial factor in societies’ prosperity.
At the end of the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995, Dayton Peace Agreement established a system that functions on the principle of allocation of political power among the three constitutive ethnic groups. Instead of putting effort to create unified educational plan and program, the system has created different curriculums that are characterized by the separation of history, culture, and ethnicity, dividing students and encouraging them to identify themselves first as members of their ethnicity, and as citizens of BiH state only as secondary. The concept of “Two schools under one roof” was introduced by the OSCE and the idea was to keep this system only temporary to ensure returns of displaced persons to their pre-war places of residence and enable their children to attend schools in normal and safe conditions. However, it has lasted to the present day and has been misused for a long period of time for ethnic segregation of Bosnian high school students. In response to the incapability for the model to fulfill its primary goal, its take-down has been called by the number of international actors such as the Peace Implementation Council, the Office of the High Representative, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, these attempts have been usually blocked by the dominant political parties and the role of their leaders. One of the most controversial statements was made in 2011 by the Minister of Education of Central Bosna canton at the time Greta Kuna when she stated that “pears and apples must not be mixed”. She made the statement in response to demonstrations made by the representative student body of SBK Student Council Network that tried to express students’ anti-discriminatory attitudes.
DISCRIMINATION THROUGH TEXTBOOKS
Common feature of high school textbooks is that they are out-dated, full of unneccessary facts. Besides, they do not encourage students to think critically and do not provide material that would make them motivated and interested in school curriculum.
- NATIVE LANGUAGE Language differences between ethnic groups are minimal and people can understand each other without any problems. However, o even these minimal differences encouraged political elites to exploit more and more differences, continuing with their separationist discourse. Starting from different names for the same language, textbooks are both ideologically and nationally written in a way to promote the culture of only one ethnicity. It is not unusual thing to see that these books proclaim certain authors as Serbs, Croats or Bosniaks.
- HISTORY History textbooks do not encourage a feeling of shared belonging to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In contrast, Croats study history of Croatia in detail, while only mentioning BiH history along the way. Their textbooks are published in Zagreb, Croatia, while Bosnian are published in Sarajevo, BiH. Different ethnic groups have different versions of past and different coverage of same historical events.
- GEOGRAPHY Similarly to history textbooks, geography of Croatia is put on emphasis in Croatian books, while geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina is taught in Bosnian schools. Additionally, it can be said that the textbooks are full of negative examples that counter to the principles of the announced reform.
- RELIGIOUS TEACHING Religious diversity is treated as an issue and particular religion is treated as the ultimate one. In addition, people that do not belong to either of religions are treated as if they are of lesser importance.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
The model of “Two schools under one roof” is characteristic for two cantons in Federation (Herzegovina-Neretva and Central Bosnia canton) and their cities such as Mostar, Čapljina, Stolac, Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, etc. For example, in Gornji Vakuf students are physically divided in the same building. Croats attend so called “Srednja škola Uskoplje” on the ground floor of the building, while Bosniaks attend “Mješovita škola Gornji Vakuf” on the first floor. The similar system operates in cities of Čapljina, Stolac, Prozor and some schools in Mostar. However, there is a positive practical example of Grammar School in Mostar that attempted to slight these divisions by establishing a common administration. Students enter the school through the same door, using the same stairwells and some of the classrooms, attending classes at the same shifts. They also attend some classes together such as the class of Information technology and additional lectures in French language. Additionally, students possess common representative Student Council body where they collaborate on projects together no matter of the fact that their studies are based on different school curriculums and languages. This is the proof that students can coexist together and that divisions are not their preference, but the preference of those above. Despite the fact that the practical example of Grammar school in Mostar is not an example of unified plan and program, it clearly represents a step forward in its creation.
The most recent example associated with the topic of educational segregation is an attempt to create a model of “Two schools under one roof” in Jajce. The Ministry of Education of Central Bosnia canton proclaimed the opening of the school in Jajce that would work on the basis of Federal plan and program where Bosniak children could be educated separated from Croats. After such an announcement, a group of students gathered in the streets to express their dissatisfaction towards authorities’ decisions. American ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina Maureen Cormack met with the Minister of Education in Central Bosnia canton Katica Cerkez in Travnik in order to discuss the situation. Cormack expressed her full support to the students who decided to protest against discriminatory actions. On the other side, Cerkez explained that this kind of situation is a direct consequence of the system that was imposed by the Dayton Peace Agreement which says that Bosnia is multi-ethnic and multi-lingual state in which every child should have a right for education in his/her language. She added that the situation as such reflects reality of Central Bosnia canton and that the school will be open if there are enough of those interested.
Although there were many provisions to reorganize the educational system throughout the history, the model of “two schools under one roof” still operates and the idea of the creation of new schools based on this phenomenon is still alive. The excuse that is used among BiH politicians for their inability to change the existing problems in education is that the common educational system would lead to assimilation and the loss of rights to national identity. Professor Lamija Tanovic and director of the United World College in Mostar at the time responded:
“These politicians in 90% of the cases send their children to study abroad in various types of systems, and they do not think that their children would become assimilated Americans, English, Danish, Swedish people etc.”
Provided analysis of textbooks proved that students from one ethnic group study bias and different cultural and historical facts to those other two ethnicities. This is the serious problem that cannot bring anything good for the future prosperity of Bosnia. By denying to take certain actions in order to change something regarding this situation, authorities tend to maintain the status-quo and ensure that generations that are coming would be educated to lead the country the same way it is led now. Because of that, continuous hope among the population that younger generations would change something in the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina thus remains a fairytale.
