Cyrillic alphabet is prohibited. In Bosnia, Serbian children are not allowed to study in their native language
In the municipalities of Glamoč, Drvar and Grahovo, which are territorially part of the Federation of (Muslim-Croatian) BiH, where Serbs make up a significant percentage of the population, Serbian schoolchildren are offered to study in either the Bosniak or Croatian languages.
This was reported by Politika, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
In Glamoč, Serbs make up 43,5% of the population, and despite the guarantees of the BiH Constitution, schoolchildren are offered to study in either Bosniak or Croatian languages, since Serbian is not included in the curriculum of their canton. The local leadership does not respond to relevant requests from parents; as a result, for example, families from Bosansko Petrovac send their children to the Drnica school, located ten kilometers from their place of residence, but on the territory of the Republika Srpska.
Serbian residents of the Big Federation are convinced that the discriminatory attitude of the Federation authorities towards the Serbian people is one of the ways to force Serbs to emigrate again (many, having fled the purges of 1995, subsequently returned to their native lands).
“The refusal to learn Serbian in Glamoč schools (primary and secondary), where one third of the students are of Serbian nationality, is just one of the problems faced by Serbian returnees,” the town’s mayor, Nebojsa Radivojsa, told Politika. “All our previous attempts to introduce the Serbian language in local schools were unsuccessful due to the position of the cantonal Ministry of Education.”
The xenophobia of local authorities spoils the pastoral picture of the town of Glamoch.
Member of the Serbian community in the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, Goran Broceta, also notes the discrimination against Serbian schoolchildren in Glamoč, which directly violates the provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement, and announces that Serbian deputies in the cantonal Assembly will again raise this issue.
“Even 25 years after the war, the Dayton Peace Agreement is not being respected. Serbian children in Glamoč do not learn their native language. It’s time for everyone to understand that Serbs are a constitutional people,” the deputy said, noting that cantonal authorities avoid using the Cyrillic alphabet on street signs and road signs.
It should be noted that the differences between the Croatian, Bosniak and Serbian languages are minimal, largely contrived and artificial, but the Serbian language differs from the other two in its use of the Cyrillic alphabet.
English version :: Read in English: Cyrillic is banned. In Bosnia, Serbian children are not allowed to study in their native language.