Union of Primary Education and Upbringing KS: Minister Hota-Muminović must resign, pedagogical standards adopted in secrecy

(Patria) - The Independent Union of Primary Education and Upbringing of FBiH - Cantonal Board Sarajevo today issued a press release stating that the Government of Sarajevo Canton on 12.02.2024 expressed a firm commitment to conduct social dialogue with the Union and improve the rights of workers in education, and due to the aforementioned, among other things, a large protest rally under the motto "Education tailored to the student and their teacher", which was announced and prepared for 14.02.2024, was not held in Sarajevo Canton.

The Union, respecting the agreement of 12.02.2024, sent a request for a meeting to the Government of Sarajevo Canton on February 14 and submitted specific remarks on the text of the proposed Pedagogical Standards and Norms for Primary School.

In the aforementioned letter, the Union emphasized that if the Pedagogical Standards and Norms proposed by the Minister of Education and Upbringing of Sarajevo Canton, Naida Hota-Muminović, are adopted by the Government of Sarajevo Canton, the agreement between the Government and the Union of 12.02.2024 will cease to be valid.

In a telephone session this week, the Government of Sarajevo Canton, at the proposal and insistence of the Minister of Education and Upbringing of Sarajevo Canton, Naida Hota-Muminović, adopted the Pedagogical Standards and Norms for Primary School, which reduced many acquired rights of workers in primary schools, and completely abolished some.

The mere fact that the Government of Sarajevo Canton adopted one of the most important documents in education "behind closed doors", by phone and "overnight" is enough to speak about the entire situation in which educational workers and education as a whole are in Sarajevo Canton.

Therefore, the Government of Sarajevo Canton has unilaterally breached the reached agreement, which is why, among other things, the Union is starting preparations for all union activities from today and demands that:

1. The adopted Pedagogical Standards and Norms for Primary Schools, which threaten the acquired rights of workers, be immediately repealed,
2. Administrative reforms that turn educational workers into ordinary clerks be stopped,
3. Better regulations, curricula, and textbooks be adopted, which will be continuously adapted and improved in accordance with the needs of modern education, especially with the needs of children, students, workers, the labor market, and the latest technologies, with the mandatory participation and consideration of the views of workers, employers, and entrepreneurs, and
4. The Minister of Education and Upbringing of Sarajevo Canton, who has jeopardized the acquired rights of educational workers, resign.

The public and membership will be informed in a timely manner about the protests, strikes, boycotts, and other Union activities that will follow the publication of the Pedagogical Standards and Norms for Primary School in the Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton, the press release states.