Moderators: ·
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoepken, Member of the board, Southeast Europe Association, Director Georg-Eckert-Institute, Braunschweig and
Heike Karge, Georg-Eckert-Institute, Braunschweig
Rapporteurs: ·
Carl Bethke and Florian Bieber

Working Group I addressed the educational sector from the perspective of Serbia as a multiethnic and multicultural society. Today the country is confronted with a double challenge: Firstly, after the end of the Milosevic regime a sustainable modernisation of the educational sector in general is urgently needed. Secondly, decentralisation and more rights for minorities are also on the agenda.
The participants of the workshop came from a broad range of backgrounds, such as Serbian NGOs, alternative educational institutions, human rights initiatives and academic experts, as well as minority representatives. Among the minority representatives only some groups, such as Bosniaks, Albanians and Germans, were represented, while others did not count among the participants of the working group, among them ethnic Hungarians and Croats. After a quick introduction, the members decided to discuss four general topics pertaining to education in Serbia: General conditions and problems of educational politics in Serbia, specific needs of minorities, current challenges in the Sphere of Education, and a concluding general discussion.

I. General conditions and problems of educational politics in Serbia
1. The Need for Reform - Re-establishing European Standards
The current situation of the educational system in Serbia is still characterised by severe deficiencies and difficulties: First of all in terms of infrastructure, technological equipment and teacher training, but also concerning the necessity for a general renewal of the staff. A large part of the intellectual elite has left the country in the past decade. In key areas Yugoslavia is still lagging far behind European standards. After a decade of xenophobia and traumatisation, the meaning, functioning and content of education have to be redefined, i.e. in the current debate on the reintroduction of religious education. In fact, further reform efforts are in urgent need.

2. National Councils and Decentralisation
Besides these more general issues a public discussion in Serbia about a proposed new minorities law at the Yugoslavian level is emerging. It foresees the election of National Councils by the ethnic minorities. On the Serbian side the creation of National Councils is sometimes criticised because of the possible danger of segregation. Especially in regard to the school system the National Councils would have had a far-reaching impact. The needs, structures and experiences are, however, very different among the different ethnic communities. At the same time the future territorial and regional structure of the country remains unclear. Meanwhile there is at least a tentative consensus in Serbia about the need for some degree of decentralisation. Several proposals in the panel aimed at strengthening local self-government. In the educational sector, participation of non-state, i.e. private initiatives, should be encouraged, either as sponsors, as administrators, or as consultants on the contents of the curriculum.

II. Specific Minority Issues in Education
1. Textbooks and Curricula
Both representatives of minorities and Serbian experts criticised the lack of content pertaining to the culture of minorities, as well as the ethnocentric presentation of Serbian history in the textbooks. As an alternative, an intercultural core-curriculum was proposed, which should be an integrative factor for all citizens. More specific contents for special ethnic groups could be freely added to this core. Representatives of the Bosniak-inhabited Sandžak region noted the need for more scientific projects on their region and the history and culture of Bosniaks, both of which has been neglected in the past. Another suggestion proposed the creation of bilateral and regional commissions for the verification of textbooks, especially concerning sensitive issues such as genocide, ethnic cleansing, and World War II. Experts on the educational system assessed that the end of the monopoly on schoolbook authoring and publishing, financed by the state, would have a beneficial impact on the content of education in Serbia. In the future, different authors and publishing houses should have the opportunity to broaden the choice for teachers and students.

2. Bilingualism
Civil rights activists advocated an extension of bilingualism in administration and public education. Bilingualism would thus not only be taught to members of the minority, but in some cases also to Serbs, who would be able to learn the language of the minorities. Especially in the light of providing multi-lingual public administration in areas with a significant number of minorities, such a measure should be considered.

3. New minorities and Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia
Flexible solutions are necessary for the so-called "new minorities", ethnic groups, which have emerged as minorities due to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, such as Bosniaks. To a certain degree their situation is dependent on an improvement of mutual relations between the now independent states. Similarly Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia form a specific type of cultural minority in Serbia with a need for a greater degree of state-recognition of their cultural and linguistic heritage. As it remains unclear which proportion of this group will eventually return to their homeland and who will remain in Yugoslavia, flexible and informal mechanisms for their inclusion into the educational system needs to be established.

4. Roma
Not only cultural barriers determine the dismal situation of the Roma population but also huge social problems. Furthermore, the group itself is highly diversified in terms of language and religion, what makes it even more difficult to develop concise educational programs for the minority. Frequently Roma fail to pass the entrance exam for primary schools, as the test emphasis the knowledge of Serbian, which de-facto discriminates Roma children again whose knowlegde of the language is frequently considerably lower than that of Serb children. Experts claim that girls are regularly taken out of school early by their parents only to get married very young, further reducing the impact of formal education. The educational barrier is a severe obstacle to overcome poverty, to strengthen the social integration and to develop an elite that could effectively articulate community interests. Massive support both by the Serbian government and the international community is thus urgently needed

III. Current Challenges in the Sphere of Education
1. Recognition of Diplomas
A significant number of members of national minorities in Serbia are heavily impacted by the non-recognition of diplomas from universities and other educational institutions in South-eastern Europe. Especially Hungarians with diplomas from Hungary, Croats with Croatian degrees, Bosniaks with diplomas from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albanians with degrees from Kosovo or Albania frequently encounter difficulties in nostrifying their documents in Serbia. This lack of recognition creates a significant disadvantage for minorities in search of jobs, especially in the public sector. This problem also affects Serb refugees which commenced (or completed) their studies at universities outside Serbia and cannot transfer their past studies to Serbian universities.
The participants proposed to create a regional centre, which is charged with ensuring the region-wide recognition of university diplomas. For the particular case of the recognition of diplomas of the Albanian university in Prishtina, it was recommended to charge UNMIK in Kosovo with the recognition of these diplomas.

2. Alternative Educational Institutions
Alternative educational institutions have played a key role in the past decade under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic in the sphere of education, as well as in maintaining a democratic alternative. After the democratic change in Yugoslavia/Serbia the alternative educational institutions are confronted with new challenges and opportunities.
Firstly, these institutions need to be legally recognised as educational institutions, and not merely as NGOs, as it has been the case until now. This would allow the institutions to issue diplomas and ensure their recognition in Serbia.
Secondly, a close symbiosis between state-run institutions and alternative, i.e. privately financed, institutions needs to be established. Both from the point of view of methodology and the content of the academic offerings of the alternative institutions, these can be of great significance for the reform of public education in Serbia. The experience of the alternative system needs to be made available to public institutions. As a proportionally low number of students currently benefit from the alternative educational institutions, this relationship can help to broaden the number of beneficiaries of modern teaching methods and curricula.
Finally, alternative educational institutions can play a key role in providing education to minorities. Its flexible and adaptable structures, as well as the experiences with multicultural curricula make these institutions an attractive choice for future education for minorities.

3. Teacher Training and Equipment
The weaknesses of the educational system, both in terms of equipment and training, needs to be met by strengthening the training of teachers. Any necessary reform of the curricula and school books needs to be supplement with (re-)training teachers, in order to ensure that teachers have the tools and knowledge to transmit the news methods and contents.
Especially members of 'new minorities' and minorities, which have been neglected in the past decade in the education system, such as Roma and Albanians, have to receive particular attention.
In the field of equipment and teacher training international donors, as well as the motherland of the respective minority, are particularly needed to financially support the reform and modernisation in Serbia.

IV. Concluding Remarks
1. Integration and Segregation
In Serbia, as in other European countries with significant minority populations, the need arises to strike a balance between mechanisms to protect and promote minorities through education and promoting integration of minorities into a diversified educational system of the country.
While integration shall not serve as a pretence to ignore minority-specific contents and neglect minority representation, there is a need to prevent the emergence of an educational system, which provided entirely different contents to members of different nations.
During the discussions a consensus emerged on the need to reduce the distance between majority and minority in the future educational system of Serbia. At the same time it will be difficult to balance between integrative measures and institutions and curricula catering specifically to minorities.

2. Distance Between the Majority and the Minority and Confidence Building Measures
The significant distance between majority and minorities and widespread prejudice remains a hurdle for the development of harmonious interethnic relations in Serbia. Besides prejudices transmitted through informal education outside the educational system, through the media, family and friends, stereotypes in institutions and curricula continue to stand in the way of improving interethnic relations.
As a first step, the contents transmitted in class have to be cleared of the stereotypes and prejudices towards minorities and other nations. As further step the curriculum needs to move away from an ethnocentric worldview to an appreciation of diversity and a promotion of interethnic tolerance.

V. Recommendations for Short-Term Measures in the Sphere of Education
The problems of the Serbian educational system require a fundamental long-term reform, which cannot be achieved without a complete overhaul of structures and contents. Nevertheless, a number of short-term steps can help to build confidence and provide for an improvement of interethnic relations in Serbia.
During the discussion a number of proposals have been made - some of which are mentioned above - which could be implemented swiftly and address some immediate concerns of minorities:
Eliminating stereotypes and hate speech from school books.
Creating a mechanism for the nostrification of non-Serbian diplomas.
Establishing cross-border mechanisms for the bi- or multilateral verification of schoolbooks.
Ending the monopoly of schoolbook publishing.
Recognising privately financed educational institutions.