SCHOOL IN CRO DANUBE REGION TO BEGIN 8 SEPTEMBER

OSIJEK, Aug 20 (Hina) - School in the UN-administered Danube region of eastern Croatia will begin on 8 September, as in other parts of Croatia, in line with a plan of the Croatian Education Ministry, the head of the Education and Culture Office of the Osijek-Baranja County, Ksenija Zbozil, told reporters on Wednesday. Only those pupils in the UN-administered area who replaced school certificates obtained from illegal school authorities with legal ones would be included in the Croatian school system, Zbozil said. In elementary schools in the UN-administered part of the Osijek-Baranja County there were 2,955 requests for school certificate replacement - 2,482 for two-language certificates, and 473 requests for certificates in Croatian/Latin script, she pointed out. For the replacement of high school certificates 576 requests were submitted - 520 for two-language certificates, 56 for certificates in Croatian - Zbozil further said. The replacement request deadline was 18 August, and all requests submitted by then would be cleared, Zbozil said, adding a possible extension would have to be authorized by the Education Ministry. Speaking about preparations for the upcoming school year, Zbozil cautioned that the Serb side delivered contradictory data on the number of pupils in the Danube region. The real situation would have to be ascertained, she pointed out. Zbozil emphasized members of the Serb national minority would not be denied lessons in their mother tongue to be carried out according to Croatian laws. (hina) ha jn 201529 MET aug 97