EDUCATION AND DISCRIMINATION: ONE EXAMPLE OF HIGH-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA –THE ENTITY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

UDK 373.4:316.647.82]:342.726(497.6 Republika Srpska)

This article elaborates upon elements of discrimination against the students of high-schools in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity- Republic of Srpska. The educational system of this B&H Entity violates the documents of international, European and the state law which are designed to protect human rights and freedoms. Students of Bosniac and Croatian nationality are subjected to assimilation in primary and high-schools in this B&H Entity, and this is particularly the case in schools which do not meet the requirements for separate studying of the “national group of subjects”. These students are not granted their legal rights to study the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, their national history, nor to be introduced to the literature created in their own language by Bosniak or Croatian authors in the region. With the purpose of presenting a full insight into the subject-matter we here present the results of an analysis of the educational contents given in the high-school textbooks of History and Serbian language and literature which have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Srpska for the academic 2017/18 and 2018/19 years. The empirical portion of the article presents the attitudes and opinions of high-school students of Bosniak and Croat nationality in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity RS.