ZAGREB, 19 June (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament House of Representatives on Thursday continued the 20th session with a discussion on the final bill on education in languages of ethnic and national minorities or communities.
ZAGREB, 19 June (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament House of
Representatives on Thursday continued the 20th session with a discussion
on the final bill on education in languages of ethnic and national
minorities or communities. #L#
The bill, which is in the third reading, was presented by Education
and Sports Minister Ljilja Vokic.
The bill includes remarks by MPs as well as by Council of Europe
experts and they are in line with the highest European standards, Vokic
said.
The rights exercised by minorities living in Croatia are not
exercised by the Croat minority in any country except in Hungary, Vokic
said, adding she has been informed that the local Serb representatives
from the Croatian Danube river region are also satisfied with the bill.
'We tried to include into the bill all remarks by the Council of
Europe, except in cases when they endangered the integrity of the
Republic of Croatia and the right of Croat children to be taught in
their national language,' Vokic said.
It was the articles 10 and 11 of the bill, which determine who can
attend a school which has classes in a minority language, that caused
dissatisfaction of members of national minorities in the lower house.
According to the two regulations, members of a minority, persons
who identify with a certain minority because at least one of their
parents is a member of a minority and only in exceptional cases other
persons who have Croatian citizenship can attend schools which have
classes in minority languages.
On behalf of the bench of independent representatives of
minorities, Njegovan Starek presented an objection by the Italian Union
(Italian minority association) that it is against the Constitution to
make the right to attend classes in 'minority schools' conditional on
the need to establish national identity of children and their parents.
Starek's objection was supported by the Croatian Peasants' Party
(HSS), Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS) and Social-Democratic Party
(SDP) benches. They also supported a proposal by the HSS bench to allow
pupils in minority schools to attend classes in the Croatian language
and Latin script as well as in Croatian history and geography.
The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) bench was not satisfied with
the proposal. Damir Kajin of the IDS said that there is no reason to be
afraid that a minority could assimilate the majority people. Kajin said
that Croatian primary schools in Istria are attended by some 21,000
pupils, while Italian schools were attended by some 1,600 pupils.
Croatian secondary schools are attended by some 9,300, Italian by around
638 pupils, Kajin said.
Vladimir Seks (Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ) said that it is
undeniable that regulations of the bill on education in minority
languages do not deprive any ethnic and national community or minority
of the rights they have gained so far.
The bill is an operational elaboration of the Constitutional law,
Seks said, adding that members of ethnic minorities should also attend
classes in other subjects which concern the culture and history of the
region and the people they are living with.
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