Religion classes in BiH kindergarten curriculum spark debate

19/05/2008

Bosnia and Herzegovina kindergarten classes may become separated into Islamic and non-Islamic classes if a ministry plan is approved.

By Azra Martin for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 19/05/08

Sarajevo kindergartners may be separated into Islamic and non-Islamic classes. [Getty Images]

A plan by educational authorities in Sarajevo to introduce religion classes in kindergarten has divided the public -- between those who think it's a religious right, and those who see it as a threat to multi-ethnicity.

A large part of the Sarajevo population is Bosnian Muslim. Parents of Bosniak students were polled by Children of Sarajevo head Arzija Mahmutović about adding the Islamic classes to the curriculum. Mahmutovic is responsible for the 24 public nursery schools in the capital.

However, non-religious parents disagree with the plan, and have started circulating a petition under the slogan "Stop Religious Segregation in Kindergarten".

"I do not want to explain to my 3-year-old son Sven, who is in love with [his Muslim classmate] Esma, why they suddenly have to sit in different rooms. Nobody has the right to separate them," Vedrana Pinjo-Neuschul, a Bosnian Muslim married to a Jew, wrote. The petition has received about 5,000 signatures.

Many Islamic parents in Sarajevo say the petition represents "a culmination of an anti-Islamic campaign".

The education ministry will decide whether to implement the same model that exists in colleges -- religion classes as a voluntary option -- or whether they will reject it out of respect for multi-culturalism.

The debate is being supervised by the OSCE, which says that "education in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be inclusive, not exclusive."

"In theory, there is nothing wrong with this, beyond of course adding a subject to the pre-school curriculum that most experts would contend ought not to be taught until students grow much older. It does raise questions about exclusivity and discrimination, for reports also suggest that such instruction would be purely Islamic in orientation."

"In a multi-national country such as BiH, this threatens to work against the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the country's own constitution. Unless it cultivates and creates this sense of belonging among its citizens, regardless of their race or religion or culture, BiH has little prospect of taking its desired place in the larger European family of democratic states," the organisation says.