CROAT TEACHERS STOP WORK AT SCHOOL IN BELI MANASTIR

OSIJEK, Oct 10 (Hina) - Croat teachers at the secondary school in Beli Manastir (under the UN Transitional Administration), who commute from Osijek, decided not to go to Beli Manastir any longer because they were subject to provocation and inappropriate behaviour from students. The teachers were exiled from Beli Manastir. Before the Serb occupation of the area, they worked at the same school. They are temporarily accommodated in Osijek. The teachers wrote to the Croatian government, local authorities, UNTAES and the Croatian Displaced Persons' Association about their decision. They stressed in the letter that after six years in waiting to return to their school and their homes, they were now in a state of "even greater suspense, trampled human dignity and void of fundamental human rights". After having returned to their home school, they had established good cooperation with colleagues and students, which had remained the case until the moment when the "students, led by some teachers, were taken out on the street to demand a Serb school, Serb language, Serb teachers and principles," the letter said. "We felt that among our colleagues of Serb nationality, there was a certain number if people who… want to live and work in togetherness, but are not showing it in public". The Croat teachers warned that their right to work, use of their mother tongue and alphabet and their right to a home were being jeopardised. "We… believe that under such conditions our work is to no avail and impossible, and our existence uncertain," the letter said. (hina) lm jn 102045 MET oct 97