The road from Nezuk to the Potočari Memorial Center will be crossed again this year by more than 200 high school students of the Sarajevo Canton, accompanied by professors and directors of their schools. As the largest organized group of participants in this year’s Peace March, from July 8 to 10, they will walk the path of memory, paying tribute to the victims of the Bosniak genocide in the United Nations protected area of Srebrenica.
For the third year in a row, students from Sarajevo Canton are participating in the Peace March. Through this activity, the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo Canton and the Institute for the Development of Pre-University Education KS, with the support of partners and friends, provide students with the opportunity to connect learning from the classroom with places that bear permanent witness to one of the most difficult chapters in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sarajevo Canton announced.
After gathering in Nezuk, students will join thousands of participants of the Peace March from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world. Together, they will embark on a three-day march more than 100 kilometers long, along which thousands of Bosniaks tried to break through to free territory in July 1995.
The road from Nezuk to the Srebrenica Memorial Center in Potočari will take them through Baljkovica, Parlog, Crni Vrh, Snagovi, Liplje, Jošanica, Donja Kamenica, Bakrač, Glod, Udrča, Cerska, Kaldrmica, Đugum, Mravinjac, Burnica, Kamenica Brdo, Ravni Bulji, Jaglić, Šušnjar and Budak.
In addition to the march itself, high school students from Sarajevo Canton will participate in history classes, educational content and conversations that help them to better understand historical facts, develop historical awareness and nurture the culture of memory as one of the fundamental values of upbringing and education. Departmental Minister Naida Hota-Muminović will attend the commemorative pre-programme in Nezuk, and will accompany the students and their teachers to this year’s Peace March.
“For the third year in a row, our high school students are participating in the Peace March because we believe that the culture of memory is built through education, conversation and direct experience. I am proud of our students and teachers,” Minister Hota-Muminović said.
Cultivating the culture of memory is part of the educational process in Sarajevo Canton. The curricula contain teaching units dedicated to the genocide against Bosniaks in the United Nations protected zone of Srebrenica and Žepa, based on historical facts and binding judgments of international and domestic courts.
In addition to teaching content, the Ministry, in cooperation with the Srebrenica Memorial Center, also organizes student study visits to the Potočari Memorial Center. Through history classes, expert lectures, conversations and tours of authentic localities, they deepen their knowledge of the genocide, learn about the testimonies of survivors and develop a responsible attitude towards historical truth and the culture of memory.
In this way, teaching content, study visits to the Memorial Center and organized participation in the Peace March form a unique whole through which the Ministry systematically develops the culture of memory and strengthens the values of truth, responsibility, respect for human dignity and permanent commitment to peace among the young generations.
