Reeducating the Hearts of Bosnian Students: An Essay on Some Aspects of Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The article looks into the present education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the influence of politics in the creation and maintenance of segregated schools. It analyzes the concept of “educational protectionism,” which underlines the difference between “ethnically correct education” and “adequate education,” the latter being embedded in the human rights for group minorities to have education that reflect their language, culture, history, and religion. The article presents a preliminary case study of a multiethnic schoolin Popov Most, Eastern Bosnia, analyzing parents’ attitudes toward controversial educational issues such as language, religious teaching, and history.

On war intensity and schooling attainment: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Post-war ethnic segregation is a glaring feature of post-war Bosnia, and ethnic minorities are often disadvantaged in terms of access to schooling (Bozic, 2006;OSCE, 2007;Swee, 2015). 21 However, I find that adding 20 These conclusions are similar to the findings of Merrouche (2011), Shemyakina (2011) and Akresh and de Walque (2008), who find that lower quality of school infrastructure is not an important mechanism through which civil war affects schooling outcomes.…”

“…In particular, a reduced demand for schooling appears to be a key factor, while indirect effects of displacement, though significant, are attend schools of their ethnicity (Bozic, 2006). 22 Of course, one could also imagine that older cohorts have better employment opportunities and therefore have a lower propensity to resume schooling.…”

Twenty Years After Dayton: Bosnia-Herzegovina (Still) Stable and Explosive

“…This is further exacerbated by an educational system that is based on ethnic division. The education system is fragmented and politicised, fostering nationalism and competing perceptions among the Bosnian people (Bozic 2006). Students mostly attend separate schools and in cases where municipalities are more heterogeneous, the phenomenon of 'two schools under one roof' ensures that students have little or no contact with those from a different group 7 (Clark 2010).…”

Visioning New Modes of Integrated and Shared Schooling in Northern Ireland

“…But these are shaped by the overall requirements of an ethnic context where the safety of the child needs to be assured and the opportunity for the child to have his or her religious and ethnic background represented can be guaranteed. This concern is reflected by Bozic (2006) who points to a significant difference between post‐conflict Bosnia and Northern Ireland insofar as communities in Bosnia are integrated in terms of living together in the same villages, while he notes the view (Murray, 1986) that contact on its own among diverse groups of children in integrated schools is insufficient in addressing integration, as ‘generally, children demonstrate their old pattern of behavior and perceptions once they return to their segregated residential quarters’ (Bozic, 2006, p. 326). Bozic suggests, moreover, that segregation in Bosnia is maintained in multi‐ethnic schools through the failure to generate a change in ethos accompanied by ‘pluralistic’ curricula and school books and ‘objective' teaching’.…”