VOKIC SPEAKS ABOUT VUKOVAR SERB PARENTS' DEMANDS ( Editorial: --> 9501 )

( Editorial: --> 9501 ) ZAGREB, Nov 10 (Hina) - Everything the Croatian Education and Sports Ministry and the UNTAES signed is being complied with, Education Minister Ljilja Vokic told the Croatian Television central evening news on Sunday in relation to announcements by Serb parents from Vukovar that as of Monday they would not make their children attend elementary and high schools. The Vukovar parents held a meeting on Friday deciding not to make their children attend classes until officials of the education and sports ministry and the UNTAES held a meeting with representatives of local Serbs and discussed their demands. One demand is moratorium on teaching history between 1989 and 1997. This, Vokic said, was being complied with. Serb Vukovar parents also made demands in relation to teaching history where Serbs are mentioned. This, according to Vokic, "goes so far as to (demand) the cancellation of what are historical facts". The education minister said she had neither authority nor intention to alter historical facts. "School books valid in other parts of Croatia are therefore valid in the Croatian Danube river region as well", Vokic said. Commenting on a demand that all non-Serb teachers be replaced, Vokic recalled that headmasters had been appointed in line with the "population's demographic development". "The headmaster is Croat (in those places) we expected the majority of Croats to return, while the headmaster is Serb where we believe that mainly Serbs will live", she said. "When there has been misunderstanding on the matter, we acted in line with Fisher's request that Croat headmasters be appointed in 60 percent of schools and Serb headmasters in 40 percent of schools", Vokic said. Croats were headmasters in 23 and Serbs in 16 of the region's 40 schools, while one headmaster is Hungarian, she added. Asked what she believed would happen today, Vokic expected that "parents will understand that their duty is to care for the children", that they "will not sacrifice their children for political ends" and that children would attend classes. Vokic commended teachers in the region who had not attended the Serb parents' protest meeting. UNTAES officials were nor present either which, Vokic said, testified to the fact that people who had an objective view realized that the education ministry and the government had done their best in restoring trust in the Danube river region of eastern Croatia. 101156 MET nov 97