Omerović: Vučić is destabilizing BiH through the education system in RS

It was agreed in Belgrade today to legalize what has been implemented against Bosniaks in Republika Srpska for two decades after the war, said Muhzin Omerović, a representative of parents from Konjević Polje, to the Patria agency, following announcements that Serbia and the BiH entity Republika Srpska will harmonize school curricula.

Omerović recalled that he, along with other parents from Konjević Polje, has been fighting for years for Bosniak children living in this BiH entity to study the national group of subjects, but that they have not yet achieved these rights, even though the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina guarantees them.

“In fact, we have had a harmonized school curriculum in RS and Serbia all along, but this has now been formalized,” Omerović said. He believes that the announcements from Belgrade are a clear message that the authorities in RS do not intend to allow Bosniaks to be educated freely in these areas.

“We do not have support from Sarajevo, and they do not want us in RS. In 20 years, there will be no Bosniak children here,” Omerović believes.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated today in Belgrade, after a meeting of the highest representatives of Serbia and the BiH entity Republika Srpska, that a team has been formed to work on drafting a Declaration on the Protection and Preservation of the Serbian People.
The declaration, he said, will emphasize the right to use the Serbian language and the Cyrillic script, the right to study national culture, history, geography, preserve national cultural and historical heritage, and education in the Serbian language.

He added that Serbia and RS will work on harmonizing the school curriculum for the Serbian language and literature in Serbia and RS, as well as on organizing student excursions, youth camps, and summer and winter schools in Serbia and RS.

A part of the public in BiH believes that with such moves, Vučić is only helping young people of Serbian nationality from BiH to look more towards Serbia as their homeland, instead of strengthening their love for their own country.

Last year, the Pedagogical Institute of Republika Srpska and the General Consulate of Serbia in Banja Luka organized a literary competition for students of all high schools in Republika Srpska, with the theme “How I see Serbia in the future.”

Also, the Government of RS adopted last year the Education Strategy of Republika Srpska for the period 2016-2021, which states that study programs for medical, legal, and pedagogical professions cannot be organized in private higher education institutions. A part of the public criticized that in this way, the authorities in RS want to achieve absolute control over the education system in this entity, i.e., to raise children in a way that suits the ruling political elite.