Bandić: Sarajevo Canton's education system turned into a field for para-political showdowns with 'undesirable' staff under the guise of 'reform'

(Patria) - Under the guise of "reform," implemented by the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo Canton (KS), the KS education system has been turned into a field for para-political showdowns with undesirable staff, believes the Party for BiH (SBiH) delegate in the KS Assembly, Muamer Bandić.

Bandić emphasizes that the "reforms" currently only serve pre-election staffing and positioning of the People and Justice (NiP) party ahead of the upcoming elections.

- Senseless and counterproductive control mechanisms and rigid bureaucratization have turned a relatively functional system into an unproductive and unpromising one, while the competence and profession of educators have been degraded.

What was once based on the essential relationship between teacher - student - parent - knowledge - grade, has today been reduced to a cold administrative form, devoid of any pedagogical substance.

The only result is the burdening of educators, trapped in a web of unclear and senseless regulations that are applied partially and according to political needs - points out Bandić.

Thus, he further states, educators have been effectively deprived of basic pedagogical freedoms, professional autonomy, the possibility of innovation, and a creative approach to work.

- It is particularly worrying that the Ministry of Education of KS, together with the Institute for the Development of Pre-University Education of KS, did not take into account the recommendations of experts, teachers, trade unions, and other relevant actors of the education system when drafting the Law on Education and numerous accompanying bylaws.

The result of such an approach is legal chaos filled with unclear norms and a complete absence of clear procedures. This chaos permanently generates serious incidents in primary and secondary schools, including physical attacks on teachers, and threatens further escalation.

And whenever we face the consequences of this irrational and ineffective process, the responsible minister always finds a culprit in someone else, which further dehumanizes the entire process - emphasizes Bandić.

According to him, every problem is reduced to the minister's word about the responsibility of the director of one of the school institutions. At the same time, there is no clearly regulated system on the basis of which responsibility is determined, nor do the bylaws contain procedures and processes for determining responsibility for any oversight in work.

- Everything is reduced to the minister saying that an oversight has occurred, and then it becomes an unquestionable, systemic fact. The institute subsequently finds reasons that will satisfy the form so that the pre-designated "culprit," on the minister's orders, is "convicted," i.e., dismissed.

And in this process of eliminating undesirable directors, there are no legal standards of responsibility regulated by law or bylaws, but they are established ad hoc, from case to case and depending on the minister's wishes and the staffing needs of her party - underlines Bandić.

He notes that the Seventh Elementary School in Ilidža has become an exemplary case of this perverse practice that is degrading and destroying the education of our children.

- The minister claims that the Ministry noticed irregularities back in October, November, and December 2025, specifically the disregard of expert recommendations and the absence of a multi-sectoral meeting prescribed by regulations, and took that as a basis for initiating the dismissal of the director.

However, certain facts reveal the untruthfulness of these claims and point to the incredible absurdity and extreme insolence in this case.

After the identified irregularities from October, November, and December 2025, the Government of Sarajevo Canton, at the proposal of Minister Hota-Muminović, appointed the current director of the school on December 29, 2025, for a four-year term.

Therefore, irregularities in the school's work were identified before the current director was even appointed to that position, but now these "irregularities" suddenly become the basis for her dismissal.

According to the logic of our minister and her private ministry, this director is apparently guilty even before she was born - says Bandić.

He assessed it as regrettable that no one here asks how, then, these "noticed irregularities" were not an obstacle to her appointment? And how can someone be held responsible for something that happened before their appointment?

- This perverse procedure has called into question the basic principle of legal responsibility, the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between an action and the responsible person. And that's not all in the ministry of absurdity and lack of elementary logic.

The most problematic aspect of the whole story is the fact that the mentioned director does not have the right to respond to the accusations, because there is no formal procedure in which her responsibility is determined.

Everything is reduced to the ministry saying so and the institute saying so. And the peak of legal anarchy is that there is no possibility of appeal or review of the decision at all.

These are presumably the "European" standards by which Sarajevo Canton lives, as the then-president of Our Party, Edin Forto, "informed" us a few years ago.

I don't know if the leaders of the 'Trojka' (Three) coalition are even aware of what kind of parallel universe they live in, but such practices have only been recorded in the darkest totalitarian systems in the history of human civilization.

In any ordered legal system, even courts proceed through clearly defined procedures. In the Sarajevo Canton education system, the decision on someone's responsibility begins and ends with the will of one person, the cantonal minister of education of KS, Naida Hota-Muminović.

The case of the Seventh Elementary School is not an isolated incident, but a symptom of a deeper problem, a reform that has burdened the education system with norms lacking substance and procedures lacking legal certainty.

The "reform," which was supposed to yield better, systemic solutions and clear, positive regulations, has become a tool used to undermine institutions and the legal order, while education is pushed to the margins.

However, let's be realistic, nothing better could have been expected, because since the very beginning of her mandate, the minister has not been building an education system, but a cult of personality.

She does not accept criticism or responsibility, she views the system as a means of personal power, not as a framework that limits her. She presents herself as the "savior" of the education system, teachers, and their profession, while justifying her catastrophic decisions, which destroy the careers of all who hold a different opinion, with a "higher purpose" - concluded Muamer Bandić in his statement.