Enrollments in the first grades of primary schools in the area of the Central Bosnian Canton have been completed. Although the results are still being added up, this year’s trend of decreasing the number of students, which will obviously be lower than last year’s 1,900, shows the extent of the demographic disaster that has affected this area as well. Slight growth is recorded by city schools in larger areas, while it is clear from the number of first graders in regional schools that smaller municipalities and villages are slowly disappearing.
Elementary school Voljevac, located about ten kilometers from Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje, to which 12 populated places belong, has lost almost half of its students in the last 5 years alone.
“We used to have 319 students, now we are down to 160 in the home school. The regional school is an even bigger problem for us. Last year, not a single child was enrolled,” says Fikreta Sušić, director of Voljevac Primary School.
In contrast to previous years, when an average of 25 students were enrolled in the first grades in this school, this year’s enrollment showed the scale of displacement that is a picture of almost all rural areas.
“This year, we were terribly surprised and shocked when we called for enrollment of children – that only 4 students enrolled. And, recently, the younger population has left, Austria, Germany, Slovenia…” says Director Sušić.
A slight increase in enrollment is recorded in the Travnica city schools, but due to constant emigration, the total number of students in 80 primary and secondary schools has been almost halved in the last ten years to less than 25,000. This is also shown by the example of the Catholic School Center, which has never had fewer students since its foundation 25 years ago.
“There are 35 to 40 percent fewer students than we had, perhaps not at the very beginning, but some 10-15 years ago,” says Anto Rajić, director of KŠC Elementary School Petar Barbarić.
The fact that in this area there is one educator for less than eight children is the clearest picture of the situation in the canton. And if pedagogical standards were respected, about 300 jobs and a large number of schools would be shut down, according to the relevant ministry.
“When the school runs out of students, there is no other help. There will also be mergers of schools, there will be moves of that kind, but we will also try to keep as many jobs as possible”, says Minister of Education, Science, Culture, Sports and Youth Bojan Domić.
The situation is similar in secondary education, which does not reflect the needs of the labor market, because students continue to choose occupations interesting to Western countries, most often medical schools, which the government opens in almost every city.
“The most sought after on the labor market are precisely those vocational schools – to seek masters, to seek workers in construction, trade, metal industry. And we have no desire to enroll in those occupations,” Minister Domić points out.
And while almost half of the cantonal budget is allocated to this area, the practice of education, which is decided more by politics than profession, continues here. Because how else to explain the examples of schools with only one student each, separated into two languages and two curricula. We are already feeling the consequences.
