After several years of litigation, the Supreme Court of the Republika Srpska found that the Republika Srpska and the “Sveti Sava” Elementary School in Zvornik discriminated against Bosniak children because of the way in which their language was marked in the school documentation. For more than a decade, the parents of the students of this school insisted that the name Bosnian language be used in the school documentation, and instead it was written “the language of the Bosniak people”. Now, parents expect changes in other schools as well, because the Supreme Court ruling has ended the legal battle for them.
The loudest fight for the legal battle, which ended with the verdict of the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, started from Liplje near Zvornik. For more than a decade, parents of students of the “Sveti Sava” regional elementary school insisted that the name Bosnian be used in school documentation. Instead, the name “the language of the Bosniak people” was written in student booklets and other documentation, which is why they started court proceedings claiming that it was discrimination.
“Then for a while the Bosnian language was being written, then it was left free, blank, then there were strikes, hunger strikes, death threats, so, simply, everything happened, and in the end there had to be a lawsuit that, after ten years, finally saw the light of day. These are, simply, moments that we would rather not remember, because of the traumas that we went through,” says Muharem Sinanović, representative of the Parents’ Council from Liplje.
“We knew that it would come. The legal team told us: “It’s a long process, it will take time, we need patience.” And so, we somehow behaved that way. And I see, it’s an election year, it should be emphasized. I have always been honest, not pulling towards any political entity in the state that someone is hiding behind us. And I can tell you as a parent: No political party has ever stood up for these children. Not one in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the parents, Husein Saračević.
The verdict, the parents’ legal representative believes, will not remain only on this case. She says that she demands that the competent institutions review the way in which the languages of the constituent nations are marked in school documents.
“So now the practices will have to be standardized, and the public authorities in the Republic of Srpska will have to decide whether to write the language of that nation to everyone, to all members of the constituent nations, or to call it by its name, as the nations call this language,” states lawyer Nedim Ademović.
After the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republika Srpska regarding the use of the name Bosnian language in pedagogical documentation, we also requested an answer from the Elementary School “Sveti Sava” in Zvornik.
“We inform you that the school has not received the said verdict, nor have we received any official notification or instruction regarding its application to date,” said school director Goran Ivanović.
The parents expect this verdict to be implemented, but at the same time they warn that the issue of language in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been followed for years by the same political matrix, the decisions of adults and institutions which, as they say, affect children and their rights.
“The Constitution says that there are three official languages: Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. However, there is something else here. We pay for the children’s guild of Serbian nationality in the Federation. We have said that on several occasions. Because, you know, there are two schools under one roof, cantons, which are disempowered. In some cantons, children study the Serbian language, in others they do not. So, in cantons with a Croat majority, Bosniaks cannot do the same, they actually study the Bosnian language, but in the registers does not introduce that language. In fact, even the representatives of the Croats do not recognize the Bosnian language, which is written in the Constitution,” Saračević added.
We also asked the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska for answers on how the verdict will be implemented. We have not received any answers until the conclusion of this report. For the families who fought this dispute for almost ten years, the legal battle is over. Now they are waiting for the court decision to be implemented in the classrooms, Federalna writes.
