Serbia’s Bosniaks await decision on education in Bosnian language

Schoolchildren and students in Serbia’s Sandzak region could be taught in the Bosnian language during this academic year if the country’s education ministry permits the move.

The Bosniak National Council, BNC, is waiting for the Serbian Education Ministry to decide on its request to introduce the Bosnian language to primary and secondary schools in the country’s southwestern Sandzak region as of September.

The BNC submitted a proposal to the Serbian Education Ministry on July 17th requesting the inclusion of the Bosnian language in the curriculum of primary and secondary education in Sandzak schools.

The explanation for the move was that Bosniaks want to exercise all of their constitutionally and legally guaranteed rights in the way that other minorities in Serbia do.

The ministry is supposed to determine the type of teaching in the Bosnian language – whether that be as a supplemental or with regular classes in Bosnian – as children are also legally obliged to learn the Serbian language.