#3: Changing the “Two Schools Under One Roof” System
- Team TRAM
- Jun 12, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 15, 2020
By Loh Hui Min Ashley
The Rise of Youth Activism
Over the years, there has been a rise in youth activism in Bosnia as the younger generation comes to recognise the flaws of the divided Bosnian society. With more than 12,000 registered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bosnia (Abdullaev et al., 2016), they aim to tackle various social issues, including the “two schools under one roof” system, and advocate for change. We were privileged to have Ms Anesa Agovic, director of the NGO Global Analitika, share her experience working with youths to tackle the ethnic divide, and have garnered much insights regarding the issue surrounding the “two schools under one roof” phenomenon and efforts to mitigate its impact on society.
The Need to Advocate for Change
The “two schools under one roof” system in Bosnian education is one of the key social structures highlighted to be reinforcing the society’s ethnic divide. Upon speaking with Ms Anesa, it became clear that this system is worsening the ethnic divide and hindering reconciliation efforts in two ways:
1. The segregated education system perpetuates ethnic intolerance by reinforcing the differences between ethnic groups
As students of different ethnicities go through the education system catered to their ethnic group, they learn different perspectives of the same subject, which are tailored to portray their respective ethnic groups in a better light. The lack of a unified curriculum emphasises the differences between ethnic groups, making it difficult for them to understand one another.
The difference between the Federation’s and Republika Srpska’s curriculum is best exemplified by the history of the Bosnian war taught to students. As Ms Anesa mentioned, “the history (of the war) is being interpreted by the different writers”, giving students a biased perspective as they only learn one side of the story. As such, a war criminal to one side may be a hero to the other, making it difficult to agree on who were the perpetrators of war.
But other than the conflicting accounts of history, the literal segregation of students also plays a major role in reinforcing the ethnic divide in society. Ms Anesa notes that although the youths of various ethnicities she has worked with live in the same city, they do not socialise with one another due to the lack of opportunities to mingle. But without interaction between ethnic groups, how can they come to understand one another?
2. The segregated education system does not support students to think creatively and critically, creating a vicious cycle that spreads discrimination
While most studies focus on the different curriculums taught as a flaw of the “two schools under one roof” system, Ms Anesa brought up a refreshing perspective that may be easily overlooked – the approach taken in educating students.
The approach taken in the Bosnian education system involves textbook learning and the drilling of facts into the students’ minds. “This system does not support youths to think creatively, critically, and independently. That’s why they aren’t questioning what they are reading,” Ms Anesa shared. Indeed, without a space for youths to think for themselves, it is unlikely that they would challenge the facts taught to them, and such blind acceptance would spiral into a vicious cycle that spreads discrimination.
Challenges with Resolving the Segregated System
If this system of education has such adverse impacts on society, why doesn’t the government do anything about it? Unfortunately, the political scene in Bosnia is complicated and corruption runs deep. With 13 ministries dealing with education issues at the state level, the Bosnian education system is very fragmented (OSCE, 2018). Also, politicians often place their personal interests above national needs and are more focused on securing power than resolving societal issues. As Ms Anesa mentioned, “At the federation level, there is no interest to solve this and people are accustomed to it.” As such, no action has been taken to resolve this issue.
Education has also been used as a political tool since the war ended. The segregation of students into their respective ethnicities allows political leaders to win over the support of their ethnic groups by leveraging on parents’ fear of exposing their children to a hostile school environment in the immediate post-war period (OSCE, 2018). Although such concerns have since become less grounded in facts, political leaders have no intention of altering this political strategy that has been successful thus far.
Non-Formal Learning as a Solution
Without the support of the government, the only path towards Bosnia’s reconciliation is for its people to step up and take things into their own hands, and that is where NGOs come into the picture.
NGOs like Global Analitika have embarked on various projects to break the barriers between ethnic groups and encourage social interaction, especially among youths. The use of such non-formal education involves engagements such as inter-ethnic youth camps, social media campaigns, and long-term discussion of the different perspectives of the war to allow youths to gradually accept the truth. Ms Anesa has emphasised the importance of this form of learning as it allows youths to discuss sensitive ethnic-related issues without any repercussions.
Furthermore, Ms Anesa also highlighted the importance of seeking out youths who have not been engaged to help identify issues in their community and empower them to enact change by teaching them relevant skills and providing the materials to do so. This encourages youths with potential to not give up on reforming society, and proves that they can make positive change. After all, youths are the future of Bosnia.
What's Next for Bosnia
The future of Bosnia is hard to predict. While many Bosnians wish for a better future, Bosnia itself has not seen much progress and seems to be stagnating. In order for Bosnia to move forward, Ms Anesa strongly believes that there first needs to be rule of law, justice, and impartial political parties to reform the education system and prevent further segregation of ethnic groups. But despite the unfavourable political ties in the education sector, there is a glimmer of hope that Bosnians themselves will rise up to change society. After all, here is a story of a couple that couldn't be broken up by the “two schools under one roof” system!
References
Abdullaev, T., Duric, P., Konstantinov, B., & Hamelmann, C. (2016). NGO Social Contracting:
Factsheet Bosnia and Herzegovina. United Nations Development Programme.
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. (2018). “Two schools under one roof”
The most visible example of discrimination in education in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
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