Volunteers in Action

Working towards a mutual Education System in Kosovo
By Angela Griep

Kosovo’s Ministry of Education and the Serbian communities will have to cooperate much more regarding the creation of a mutual education system that covers children of all communities to build a common future for all children in Kosovo. As of today schools in the mission are still working from two different curricula. While the education systems in the whole Balkan are in the process of being modernized in order to catch up with European standards, Serbian schools here are still teaching based on the former Serbian curriculum. UN Volunteer Esma Vukovic is the Education Officer in the regional education office in Mitrovica/ Mitrovice. Her task is to convince the Serbian communities of the necessity to be included in the Kosovo education system for their children to be fully integrated in Kosovo’s future, ensuring in the same time that specifics like their language and culture will be respected and protected. “I try to bring Albanians and Serbs together to discuss the education system and mediate between the two parties”, Esma explains.

To work towards a mutual education system Esma advises municipalities on rules and procedures and organizes meetings with experts from the ministry in Pristina/Prishtine if needed. Whenever there are questions coming from the Serbian side, she facilitates meetings with Albanian colleagues from the regional education office, and mediates their discussion for the two counterparts to find a direct solution to the particular problem. “We provide as much information as we can, we follow up on projects and problems, we push, monitor and support our local counterparts when dealing with education issues”, she describes her job.

The thought of a common education system automatically brings to mind the picture of multi-ethnic schools where children of all ethnicities learn and play together. But multi-ethnicity is not the problem in the first place. “We have some multi-ethnic schools in Kosovo and that is good and important, because it brings the kids together”, elaborates Esma. “But even in a multi-ethnic school you have some Serbian and some Albanian class-rooms, and the Serbian children learn something completely different, using completely different books than the Albanian pupils. So it is a good concept, it is very important for reconciliation, but it does not solve our general problem.”

To bring the two curricula in line with each other, or at least to start a discussion on the process, a group of 10 Kosovo Serb education specialists reviewed the Kosovo curriculum in 2003 and sent their suggestions and objections to the Ministry of Education in Pristina/Prishtine. “For example in regards to the 9th grade they pointed out 3 subjects they didn’t agree with”, remembers Esma. “That was ‘History’, because they have a different perspective not only on the recent history than Kosovo Albanians, ‘Civic Education’, a subject teaching how the Kosovo administration and constitution function, a constitution that is not accepted by the Serbian communities, and ‘Literature’, because both sides place emphasis on different literary, culturally and philosophical references...which might be considered as an enrichment in other countries, but here it separates people.” Though solutions for disagreements of this kind are not easily found, the fact that both sides were willing to discuss the issue show their will to start cooperating. “Unfortunately projects like this depend on the particular political situation and the March events blocked the process”, says Esma regretfully.

When discussing a mutual education system, Esma tries to leave politics aside. “There is no politics in the question on how many teachers you are going to hire”, she points out. “Following the rules and improving the quality of teaching methodology does not necessarily have anything to do with politics. The reality in the field is that there is still a lot to do in terms of improving the quality of teaching on both sides. Even in the middle of different political interests and agendas, we have to work on this issue, keeping in mind that the priority for all communities is, or at least should be, the interest of the children.“

With the word ‘issues’ Esma summarizes different problems, projects and policies. “A few weeks ago a new Kindergarten opened in Leposavic, which requested the ministry of education to license the institution so that it can be integrated in the Kosovo system”, she says, giving an example. “My supervisor and I went there with experts from the ministry in order for them to decide if they want to integrate the new institution or not. There was a good cooperation between the institutions and the Kindergarten is about to be licensed.”

Another example for issues Esma is dealing with at the moment is the integration of Roma children in Serbian or Albanian schools. “Roma kids quite often speak neither proper Albanian nor proper Serbian, sometimes not even proper Romani. They are kind of between all languages due to their special situation in Kosovo. And in addition to that many of them didn’t go to school for years because of security concerns of their parents”, she explains. For these children to be able to follow the regular lessons, they need to attend special catch up classes. “OSCE and UNICEF used to finance this project, but now asked the municipality to take over at least part of the costs. The problem is to convince the municipality, who has a very small budget anyway, of the importance to take care of the Roma children too. If the municipality agreed to give the money we would get in contact with UNICEF, OSCE, CARITAS to find the rest of the funding needed.”

Esma came to Kosovo more than four years ago. Although she is French, some of her family originally comes from Montenegro, being one part Slavic and one Albanian. “Speaking both languages and being used to both communities helps me to understand the mentality of people here.” After finishing her degree in law Esma came to the Balkans with different NGOs and spent one year translating for French KFOR. “I was very happy when I got the UNV position in the Ministry of Education”, she remembers. “It was a great challenge and I think if you want to change a situation like here in Kosovo, where different ethnic groups are not getting along with each other, you have to start with improving the economy and education to fulfill people’s basic needs and teach them more tolerance in the same time.” Despite her desire to contribute to improving the situation in Kosovo, Esma is aware of the fact that solutions coming purely from the outside will not help. “It doesn’t make sense to measure who suffered most in Kosovo, all communities suffered a lot. And history will always be taken as justification for whatever happened. It’s like a collective conscience, a philosophical question. It is our job as internationals to bring both sides together, but it’s up to people here to find sustainable solutions. I would say to my interlocutors ‘The international community is here to support and help you, to bring you together and to propose solutions acceptable for both sides, but you have to find a way to build your future together’.”

In October Esma is leaving the mission to do her Masters in International Relations and Economy back in France. “I will keep in touch with the Balkans”, she says. “I know that I will miss this place and the people. Maybe I will come back at some point…”

For more information please contact:

Angela Griep, UNV Public Information Officer, UNMIK, Email griep@un.org, or