Bosnian Education Between National Affirmation and National Intolerance: Schools as Ideological Battlegrounds!

Prepared by: Asst. Prof. Dr. Nerma Halilović - Kibrić

32 years after the declaration of independence, the public education system of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents a key arena of dangerous tendencies of deep politicization and hostile practices such as discouraging return, instilling hatred and fear, and promoting destructive nationalism. The phenomenon of “two schools under one roof” is just one example of the chaos that has its roots in the transformation from socialist to ethno-nationalist political culture, which brought with it the desire of the states formed from the breakup of Yugoslavia to strengthen their own national characteristics.

Educational policy creators at the time focused more on attempts to be different from others than on providing the best possible education for their children.

The newly formed ethno-nationalist authorities in the territories conquered by the Army of Republika Srpska made the adoption of the Law on Universities in 1993 their first task, after which the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Republika Srpska was founded.

Such an undertaking can be understood as the desire of the authorities at the time to use education as a fundamental tool for fulfilling ethno-national goals, through the creation of an ethno-national identity and its successful self-existence. The entire educational system underwent changes, with curricula from the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia being introduced, and Bosnian textbooks being replaced by those from Belgrade and Zagreb.

Any systemic view of education in the post-war period inevitably places a “bell” on the Dayton Peace Agreement, whose primary goal was to emphasize the ceasefire, leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina in a “frozen conflict” where the issues that caused the conflict were not addressed.

From the very beginning, the Dayton Peace Agreement created a decentralized, asymmetrical, and defective system of governance in education that completely neglected the unity of educational policy, common educational goals, common values, and positive and patriotic feelings for the homeland. A multi-layered government structure, with 14 different ministries dealing with education, in a country with less than 3 million inhabitants and less than 400,000 students, represents a global example of nonsense.

Undoubtedly, education in societies after a war based on ethnic divisions presents a very big challenge. Schools in such societies represent ideological battlegrounds, where the search for “rights” and the challenging of wartime “mistakes” will continue, and long public debates will be held about the language of instruction and curriculum choices. The ultimate consequence is not national affirmation but national intolerance and division, which prospectively tend towards further deepening.

Policies that are interested in discrimination being part of education in BiH are stronger than court decisions, as evidenced by the fact that even after the final verdict of the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH, “two schools under one roof,” as one of the most prevalent and most medially exposed problems, still exists in 25 locations. Schools operate according to three different national plans and programs, where each presents events from the early 90s as it wishes. The question arises: who benefits the most from children being taught from an early age that their differences are much greater and deeper than their similarities?

Ethnic crystallization and determinism remain the basic determinants of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian educational system, resulting in young people in certain parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina experiencing one of the most important dates in recent history as an attack on their own existence, ignoring the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is our only homeland and that we have no other, nor better, nor more beautiful one.

*The text is part of the presentation by Asst. Prof. Dr. Halilović-Kibrić at the Conference “March 1st – Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Challenges and Perspectives” held at the Faculty of Criminal Justice, Criminology and Security Studies of the University of Sarajevo