Golden Children: We Feel Betrayed by Our Own State, Our Presence in BiH Is Not Welcome!

Federal Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Sarajevo Canton, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Tuzla Canton, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of SBK, students who were omitted by the aforementioned authorities when it comes to awarding recognitions have sent an open letter which we publish in full, Patria reports.

Why has no medal winner from the most prestigious international competitions been awarded in FBiH? On Monday, December 5, 2016, an award ceremony will be held for the best primary and secondary school students in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 2015/2016 school year. The Federal Ministry has decided that each canton should nominate three best students from primary and secondary schools.

Related text

Scandalous decision: Most successful students left without recognition only because they attend Bosna Sema schools!?

The undersigned representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the world, European and Balkan Olympiads in mathematics and physics won a total of 12 medals at the aforementioned most prestigious international competitions in the 2015/2016 school year.

Next to our names are listed achievements at international competitions in 2015/2016, and in addition we achieved good placements at federal and cantonal competitions, have a 5.0 GPA and exemplary conduct. However, no matter how hard we try, we cannot find anyone among the twenty-seven awarded secondary school students who won a medal at an international competition.

We suspect the reason for this is that we come from an "inconvenient" school, i.e., from a school under the auspices of the Bosna Sema educational institutions. We feel betrayed by our own state.

Are our friends right when they tell us that we were not awarded because we come from a certain school, and is this sending us a message that we are not suitable for the authorities, and that our effort and desire to give our best to present our country in the best possible light was in vain?

We feel that our presence in this country is not welcome, so we wonder how then we are not supposed to leave it. Because of all this, we are forced to inform the public about this situation, as the question of criteria for selecting the "best" students for the award arises. We ask for a concrete answer, instead of shifting responsibility from the Federal to cantonal ministries and vice versa. From the Federal Ministry, we received information that they did not interfere in the selection of students, but left everything to the cantonal ministries, which have better insight into student success.

We believe that the criterion by which three students from each canton are awarded is at least unfair. Namely, we consider that the criterion of previous years, when the three best students from the federal and state competitions were selected, along with medal winners at international competitions, was more quality because it truly awarded the best students. If that criterion were applied this year, 80% of the students on the list would not be awarded. Also, four of us are students of schools in Sarajevo Canton, and there is not even a theoretical chance that all of us will be awarded even though we won medals at international competitions. How is it possible that none of us were included among the three students with the best achievements from Sarajevo Canton? We ask the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Sarajevo Canton to provide us with a detailed insight into the scoring. The argument that reached us, that our schools did not submit the necessary data on time, is simply not true.

We are aware of the case of a student whose school forgot to send the data, but the parents complained and the student was subsequently included on the list. A particularly interesting situation occurred in Tuzla Canton where Bahrudin Trbalić was first included on the list of awarded students, but was removed from the list at the last minute without any explanation. This tells us that there may be some political reasons behind it. We would also like to draw attention to the case from Central Bosnia Canton. A primary school student from Novi Travnik, Amila Mujkić, achieved almost unreal results.

She won first place at the cantonal competition in physics and mathematics, first place at the federal competition in physics, first place at the state competition in mathematics, and a bronze medal at the Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad.

Even that was not enough for the Cantonal Ministry to nominate her as one of the three best students from SBK. The student's parents complained and asked about the scoring criteria, but received an answer that the students were selected without any special criteria.

We ask for an explanation from those responsible for each of the mentioned cases, hoping that there is no politics behind it all, but that it was a misunderstanding that will be corrected. We especially ask the Federal Ministry of Education and Science to reconsider the method of awarding, because besides us, there are many other students – winners of first places at federal competitions – who are harmed, and if this remains, there will be more in the years to come. And while the Federal Ministry has so far rewarded every world medal won, and practically punished ours, we will not be discouraged and stop on the path of science. Knowledge into the future for a progressive Bosnia and Herzegovina!

Signed by the affected students:

Adisa Bolić

● bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

● bronze medal at the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

● gold medal at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad 2016.

Nermedin Džeković

● silver medal at the International Physics Olympiad 2016;

● bronze medal at RMPh 2016.

Neira Kurtović

● bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

● bronze medal at the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

● silver medal at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad 2016.

Zlatko Salko Lagumdžija

● bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

● silver medal at the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2016;

Bahrudin Trbalić

● silver medal at the International Physics Olympiad 2016;

● silver medal at RMPh 2016.