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How different content of history textbooks can deepen ethnic division

Beatričė Bankauskaitė & Tereza Dorňáková

No "right" to be taught the same

 

Dec. 12, 2018

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was sitting in the car with his wife Sophia on their way to visit a hospital during their official stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina in late June 1914. Near the Latin Bridge in the city center of Sarajevo, they were both shot out of the blue by young Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip

 

This is a well-known story of the Sarajevo assassination, which is perceived as one of the triggers of the First World War, which eventually led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire four years later.

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Museum near the Latin Bridge in the city center of Sarajevo reminds the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. The event remains controversial even 104 years after it happened. By Tereza Dorňáková

These facts are what the pupils most likely learn during their history lessons around Europe. However, this is not the case in the country where the actual assassination happened. History textbooks for pupils in BiH, a Southeastern country with three and a half million inhabitants, tell the past differently according to which ethnic group they are written for.

 

“Serbs see that as a heroic act; on the other side, you see that it is perceived as an act that stopped Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which was productive and brought civilization to the area. These ideas can be found in Croatian and Bosnian textbooks,” says Melisa Forić Plasto, a Teaching Assistant from the University of Sarajevo, who has been analyzing the content of history textbooks in BiH.

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In 2014, 100 years after the assassination, a statue of Gavrilo Princip was erected in Serbian part of Sarajevo. By Beatričė Bankauskaitė

History in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a lack of Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

The question of whether Princip was a hero or a terrorist is just one controversial part of history. Other events are interpreted differently in history textbooks as well.

 

The signing of the Dayton Agreement, a peace treaty in 1995, led to a complicated education system with 10 cantonal ministries of education in the Federation of BiH, one Ministry of Education and Science of Republika Srpska plus the Department for Education in Brčko District. However, the country lacks one ministry of education at a state level, which would have decisive power.

Until the new Framework Law on Primary and Secondary Education in 2003, every canton had the right to decide, independently, on the authorization of textbooks and a form of curricula according to which schools in particular cantons operated.

 

Part of the law was a call for establishing and implementing a common core curriculum with a common list of topics that all public and private schools in BiH should cover. However, the content of history lessons and of some other so-called “national subjects” remains different to this day.

 

“We have three parallel existing educational systems in the country. History is perceived as a national subject with the mother tongue, geography, religious studies,” the current situation explains Forić Plasto.

 

Also, Dr. Vera Katz stated in her analysis of textbooks published in an edition of the Forum  for Transitional Justice that national subjects “mirror the deep ethnic division in the country.”

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History textbook for primary schools where Bosnian curriculum is followed shows an ethnic division in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at the beginning of 20th century before the monarchy collapsed. By Tereza Dorňáková

She added that, besides the importance of making the connection between what happened in BiH and the events in neighboring states, “the Serbian and Croatian textbooks dedicate more space to developments in Croatia and Serbia than to those in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

 

Consequently, it is “rather unlikely that future generations will embark on a path towards understanding the past and building mutual trust with their neighbors in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region,” concludes Dr. Katz.

 

National history: one story, different interpretations

 

This situation of education has remained almost the same for more than 25 years. Mostly, NGOs, professors and people working in the field see a lack of political will as the main obstacle for changes. According to Forić Plasto, national subjects and ethical division are more important to politicians who influence policies, especially education, than ordinary people themselves.

 

“Nationalistic parties are using history: twisting and changing history in a way that suits their narratives,” adds Safet Šarić, a General Manager of Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC), an NGO which supports innovative approaches to peace education in Western Balkans.

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Safet Šahić in the tiny office of Post-Conflict Research Center. Organization have many volunteers that come to BiH for internships and work with current projects. By Tereza Dorňáková

Within the Mission Mandate, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has worked in the field of Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2002 by advocating policies that contribute to reconciliation and secure sustainable peace. Aleksandra Janković, a National Education Advisor at OSCE, says that progress in history textbooks has been made, especially when it comes to the amount of hate speech towards other ethnicities, however, the whole education system is far from being perfect.

She explains that talking about the content of history in general, common core curricula (CCC) created in 2003 are implemented across BiH 97%, however, when class subjects turn to national history, not many common elements are told for students.

“For example, everyone in BiH is learning about the First World War; however, what is the narrative, what is the interpretation, how they are discussing the war that is a completely different story.”

Even though this month, “a new concept for the CCC which is based on the students learning outcomes” was presented by the Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education, an independent administrative organization at the institutional level of BiH, it is possible that  “common interpretation of the certain historical events will not happen” because in BiH there is no imposing power on the state level. The Agency is only an advisory body and even though the ministries of education “are obliged to implement the CCC,” there are “no legal requirements when and how” to accomplish it.

A teacher can break or build walls of separation

 

Šarić from PCRC, in parallel with textbooks, emphasizes the importance of teachers and believes that they are “the ones who shape new generation the most.” “They are 50 percent in charge of what the person [child] will become. They are the ones who are basically deciding whether or not we will get a new Albert Einstein or Hitler.”

 

Even though “every teacher has only 15 percent of autonomy to change something in the curricula”, Forić Plasto sees teachers’, especially of history, responsibility as a main key in the learning process. Because according to her, “the past reflects the present and affects the future.”

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Melisa Forić Plasto in her office at the Department of History at Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo. By Tereza Dorňáková

“It is important what kind of message you are sending. Will it be a message to hate everyone who is around us or to be aware that there are differences, which don’t have to be bad? Differences can be something that we can learn from,” adds Forić Plasto.

 

The importance of teachers also describes Nikolas Rimac, a student of the University of Sarajevo who wants to become a teacher. He assures that his teachers showed what was good and bad and built up his confidence. “I was in an open-minded, hetero-organic school in which teachers always ignored the curricula and always taught by the way they knew.”

 

However, Šarić insists the probability that having a history teacher that was personally affected by the war leads to a situation where he will transfer this experience to the students.

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The picture in the history textbook for Serbian curriculum shows how members of Ustaša, a Croatian fascist group, are cutting person's throat (1939-1945). “It is a small picture, but it is for 14 year-old kids. Of course, when children read they will connect Ustasha with Croats,  they will hate them until end of their life,” explains Forić Plasto. She says that these messages make the division even deeper. By Tereza Dorňáková

Due to the lack of training programs for teachers in BiH, the European Association of History Educators (EUROCLIO), an international organization that focuses on bringing historians and history teachers from post-conflict countries together to share their experience, provides new teaching approaches for teachers and develops additional extracurricular teaching materials. The goal is to “bring all different interpretations to the table and discuss,” says Forić Plasto as a member of the organization.

 

She adds that in these days in BiH teachers or curricula are not focused on the students’ skills, but more on adopting the knowledge. “They [students] learn the facts, reproduce that knowledge, but don’t know what to do with that knowledge.” And concludes that  “having a dialogue is something that can bring improvement.”

Two stories about Princip

 

Today, due to the lack of political will, steps toward improvement in the BiH education system are slow. Even after 104 years two or more stories remain behind the name of Gavrilo Princip and are told for the pupils differently.

 

However, Forić Plasto believes that they do not need to know one truth as a fact. She wishes students in the future would be raising the question “does a person has a right to kill someone driven by patriotic feelings?” instead of arguing whether Gavrilo Princip was a “terrorist” or “hero”.

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