BELI MANASTIR: CROAT PUPILS TO RETURN TO SCHOOL ON MONDAY

BELI MANASTIR, Oct 29 (Hina)- Returnee children in Beli Manastir will resume attending school on Monday because they have been given guarantees that teaching would be in the Croatian language. Parents of 192 pupils of the elementary school in the Beli Manastir suburb of Secerana forbid their children to attend school this week in protest over teaching in Serbian. Assistant Education Minister Ivan Janos met on Thursday with teachers and parents. Janos said that four teachers and a pedagogue at the Secerana elementary school would be transferred to other duties, adding that the group includes both Serbs and Croats. According to Janos, schools in the Croatian Danube region presently have a surplus of 40 teachers. After the reintegration of the Croatian educational system 1,300 Serbian teachers were included. As of Thursday, the teachers of the Secerana elementary school, who taught several subjects, will stop teaching. In due course they will be replaced by other teachers, Ksenija Zbozil, head of the Vukovar-Srijem County education office, said. Davor Kruselj, president of the parents' committee, stated that parents were happy with the resolution of the problem. (hina) mr/ha