BELI MANASTIR/OSIJEK, Oct 27 (Hina) - Returnees to a Beli Manastir +suburb (eastern Croatia) decided not to allow their children attend +the local primary school.+ Parents, whose children are attending the "Secerana Primary +School"
in Beli Manastir, are protesting because classes attended +by their children are not being held in Croatian language.+ They consider Serb teachers teaching Croatian students +inadequate.+ These teachers "do not know Croatian because they spoke Serbian and +taught another ideology for the past seven years," the parents said +in a statement issued Tuesday.+ They stressed that they had sent two petitions to relevant +institutions, requesting that classes attended by Croatian pupils +be held in Croatian language and script.+ The parents cited a statement by Croatian Education Minister +Bozidar Pugelnik, that children of returnees will be taught by +Croatian teachers. The parent
BELI MANASTIR/OSIJEK, Oct 27 (Hina) - Returnees to a Beli Manastir
suburb (eastern Croatia) decided not to allow their children attend
the local primary school.
Parents, whose children are attending the "Secerana Primary
School" in Beli Manastir, are protesting because classes attended
by their children are not being held in Croatian language.
They consider Serb teachers teaching Croatian students
inadequate.
These teachers "do not know Croatian because they spoke Serbian and
taught another ideology for the past seven years," the parents said
in a statement issued Tuesday.
They stressed that they had sent two petitions to relevant
institutions, requesting that classes attended by Croatian pupils
be held in Croatian language and script.
The parents cited a statement by Croatian Education Minister
Bozidar Pugelnik, that children of returnees will be taught by
Croatian teachers. The parents expect the ministry and county
education offices to implement that policy.
At Tuesday's meeting of county leaders and representatives of
returnees held in Osijek, head of the Osijek-Baranja County Office
for Education and Culture, Ksenija Zbozil, recalled that parents
and students attending schools in Ceminac, Darda, Beli Manastir and
Dalj had earlier had similar complaints. They warned of the failure
of teachers to implement law provisions on classes being held in
Croatian language and script in Croatian classrooms.
The requests of returnees that their children should be given a good
education must be respected, Zbozil said.
She warned that certain teachers, those retained in schools
according to an agreement between the Croatian government and
UNTAES (UN Transitional Administration of Eastern Slavonia), do
not respect this legal provision.
They speak Serbian conspicuously during class, Zbozil said.
She suggested that the Croatian Education and Sports Ministry
should increase supervision of the language and professional
aspects of classes in the local schools.
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