EASTERN CROATIA SERB TEACHER NOT WANTED BY PARENTS RETIRED

ZAGREB/DARDA, Feb 28 (Hina) - The case of a Croatian Serb elementary school teacher from Darda whose return to work met with the disapproval of parents from this eastern Croatian town was solved at the education ministry on Friday with an agreement to pay out severance and retire the woman. #L# A delegation of the Darda school solved the "case of Ljeposlava Grubor" by paying her severance in the amount of 117,000 kuna (EUR15,400), said ministry spokeswoman Danijela Grizelj. Parents in Darda yesterday urged their children to boycott biology classes as Grubor, who had not worked for two years but had been getting paid, was to return to work under an education ministry decision. Grubor is one of about 40 teachers in eastern Croatia who remained without pupils when their families left the area after its reintegration under Croatia's jurisdiction in 1998. Returnees to pre-war homes in the area did not want their children to be taught by Croatian Serbs, claiming they taught them in Serbian. As a result, many teachers remained on the payroll despite not working. The ministry said it was working on the issue of unassigned teachers of Serb nationality in eastern Croatia, and that over the past three years it had solved half their cases. (hina) ha