CLASSES BEGIN IN UN-ADMINISTERED PART OF VUKOVAR-SRIJEM COUNTY

COUNTY $ VUKOVAR, Sept 8 (Hina) - Classes in all 18 schools in the UN-administered part of the eastern Croatian Vukovar-Srijem County began on Monday. The beginning of the new school year was marked at a ceremony in front of the building of the Second Elementary School in Vukovar in the presence of numerous public figures headed by Croatian Education and Sports Minister Ljilja Vokic. In spite of having been invited, representatives of local Serb politicians and of the Orthodox Church failed to attend today's event, as did teachers of Serb nationality, who during the opening ceremony stayed in the classrooms. Pupils attended only the first class, as elsewhere in Croatia, and were later free to go home. Regretting the absence of Serb representatives, but at the same time glad that classes began in the Danube region as throughout Croatia, Minister Vokic thanked UNTAES for their assistance in the reintegration of the school system. The head of UNTAES' civil affairs, Gerard Fischer, was satisfied with the successfully completed negotiations on the reintegration of the education system, adding the international community was closely monitoring the education process in the Croatian Danube region. According to Fischer, Education Minister Vokic promised she would do all in her power to make the education system in the Danube region an example of peaceful reintegration and reconciliation. On Vokic's initiative, she and Fischer talked with teachers of Serb nationality who did not attend the ceremony. Vokic and Fischer invited them to take part in classes guaranteeing them all rights. There are 2,340 pupils attending high school in the UN-administered part of the Vukovar-Srijem County. Out of 4,451 pupils attending elementary school, 4,213 will have lessons in the Serbian language, 216 in the Croatian, and others in the Slovakian, Ruthenian and Hungarian languages. (hina) ha jn 081621 MET sep 97