NGOs SUPPORT EDUCATION WITH MORE TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY

ZAGREB, June 17 (Hina) - Participants in a round table discussion organised by the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) and other non- government organisations on Tuesday supported the idea of a fundamental reform that would transform "Croatia's authoritative, non-democratic and backward education system" into a system of education promoting human values, greater tolerance and more knowledge. #L# The event pooled several dozen participants including representatives of non-government organisations, political structures, parliament, and state or entity assemblies from Bosnia-Herzegovina. HHO president Zarko Puhovski advocated a system of education established on the basis of a wide consensus. Such education is education for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, he said. It is not education for some imaginary ideals but values in which human life and differences are the first priority, he said. He said that "constitutional patriotism" was primary and urged schools to give up "fabricating canonised images of the nation". Sanja Sarnavka of the Women's Network, co-organiser of the round table, analysed the image of women in primary school text books showing that it encouraged gender inequality. The director of the "Open Society", Tomislav Raskovac, said that education for a civic culture was doomed to failure from the start if no fundamental changes were made in the education system. Croatian schools currently do not promote free creativity but authoritarian behaviour, submissiveness, uniformity, disrespect of differences, etc. Students are treated like blocks of wood that need to be shaped, Reskovac said. The dean of the Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy, Neven Budak, believes that the only true step forward would be if teachers, parents and students were allowed to make decisions in cooperation with experts. Vesna Puhovski said that the subject civic training existed in some form in all former Yugoslav republics except for Croatia. (hina) sp rml