SDHR Schroembgens Calls for Inclusive Education System

An efficient education system, sustained by and inculcating democratic values, is key to the development of BiH as a normal European state, Senior Deputy High Representative Gerhard Enver Schroembgens said on Thursday. Ambassador Schroembgenswas hosting a fundraiser at Dobrinja Primary School. The school has been rebuilt by funds donated by USAID. Ambassadors gathered yesterday with a view to raising money to buy books and furniture so that the school can open its doors properly equipped at the beginning of the next academic year.

“Well managed, forward-looking schools using an up-to-date curriculum are not a luxury but a necessity if this country is to compete with its neighbours economically and if it is to move forward towards greater integration in Europe,” Ambassador Schroembgens said. “Schools are a bulwark against ethnic, religious and any other kind of destructive prejudice.”

Ambassador Schroembgens said that he expected Dobrinja Primary School, which is situated within easy reach of households in both Entities, would serve as a model for inclusive education, among other things through the implementation of the agreement signed in March by the Entity Education ministers. The agreement allows children throughout the country to choose which syllabus they will follow in the “national” group of subjects.

Children at Dobrinja Primary School “will study and grow in an environment that is diverse and inclusive,” Ambassador Schroembgens said. “They will not be burdened by artificial divisions that are irrelevant to learning and to life and which have no place in a modern democratic education system. Dobrinja Primary School was multiethnic in the past. That was its strength. We trust that it will be multiethnic once again.”