The Ministry of Education of the Canton of Sarajevo commented on the case of two children with developmental disabilities who were not provided with what their single mother requested, which is to attend preschool education.
They confirmed that the mother is in the 2022/2023 school year. enrolled the children in a private kindergarten through the EMIS system, and that after that she turned to the Ministry with a request for the insurance of assistants for children. They told her that they could not secure an assistant in a private kindergarten.
“The mother was informed that the Ministry does not have the legal possibility of financing workers in private institutions, whose founder is not the Canton of Sarajevo,” they emphasized.
However, we remind you that Sabina’s mother’s lawyer, Hota Ćatović, previously told Klix.ba that the Ministry is actually legally obliged to provide an assistant, regardless of whether it is a public or private kindergarten.
The Ministry claims that they offered the mother the possibility of enrolling in the kindergarten of the public institution “Djeca Sarajeva”, so that an assistant could be hired. They also claim that she refused that possibility and that she insisted that the children attend pre-school education in the previously chosen, private kindergarten. They assure that in this case they did not act differently compared to other children with developmental difficulties.
Lawyer Hota Ćatović pointed out that the mother initially tried to enroll the children in a public kindergarten near their place of residence, because one child was vomiting due to a long drive. She indicated that after an unsuccessful attempt to enroll in a nearby public kindergarten, she was forced to enroll in a private kindergarten in the EMIS cantonal system.
The Ministry of Education said that they did not participate in the proposal for monetary compensation for “reputational risk”.
Please note that the Sarajevo Canton Attorney’s Office requested a guarantee of 5,000 BAM from the Sarajevo Municipal Court for “damage that could occur” to the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Education if the children are enrolled in a public kindergarten, Klix.ba reports.
