Education and language: Ethnic segregation at every corner?

By Malena Bullmann

 

Dardania Elementary School, Prishtina

 

My project group shot a film about the role of education, and in particular, history education, in peacebuilding, reconciliation and identity shaping. The field trip to Kosovo as well as the research and interviews we conducted for the film have shown me how much Kosovo, specifically its educational system, is segregated along ethnic lines. While educational bans have shaped Kosovo’s history since the Ottoman Empire, today, parallel education systems prevail. This means that municipalities with Serb-majority populations continue to operate under Serbian laws and with Serbian curricula and textbooks, and teachers of Serbian students in Kosovo are also paid by the Serbian government. The other educational system operates under Kosovo state laws. Learning each other’s languages is also a taboo, whereby Serbian has never returned to Kosovo’s core curriculum, and Albanian is also not being taught in Serb Kosovar schools. Through different textbooks, both communities learn completely different versions of history. This can perpetuate ethnic prejudice and nationalist ideas. Throughout our film, we have also identified how the media plays an important role in teaching history. And even that medium seems to be segregated, considering the language barriers.

 

 Serbian flags all over North Mitrovica

 

For me, our visit to Mitrovica illustrated this divide very clearly. It showed how the division not only exists within one country, but even within a city. Mitrovica is divided in two, the North inhabited by a Serb-majority population and the South being predominantly Albanian-Kosovar. Both are just separated by a bridge. We walked over that bridge, which is still being patrolled by the Italian carabinieri KFOR forces. Even though everyone can move freely over that bridge, heavy road barriers anchored in the ground symbolically still separate the two sides. 

 

What I grasped from some people living in Mitrovica, is that the North is basically Serbia. The schools follow the Serb curriculum, Serb flags hang everywhere, and the people speak Serbian. When someone in our group fell and needed medical attention, she discovered that even the hospitals on each side were of completely different quality.   

 

For our film, we interviewed a Serbian woman from the New Social Initiative in North Mitrovica. She, for example, was very reflective on the fact that the curricula are completely different, and that she might have learned biased or only selective parts of history during school. She also wished she could speak Albanian, but that the means to learn it have been missing all her life. In contrast, I heard from some other people I spoke to, that they are not interested in learning the other’s language. I met one Kosovar-Albanian man in Prishtina, who told me that he tries to teach his kids some Serbian words here and there. Interestingly, when I spoke with his daughter, she said she did not want to learn any Serbian. All this has shown me how in both communities, those feelings are still mixed.

 

However, Kosovo cannot be generalized in that sense. Many people are trying to work against this division that exists within the country. I was especially impressed when we met up with Community Building Mitrovica in the South of the city, where we were welcomed by both Serb-Kosovars and Albanian-Kosovars working there together. The multi-ethnic peace organization wants to look into the future, move beyond the divide and rebuild community links between the many ethnic groups living in the region. In this context, creating contact between the different communities seems to be of importance. This can counteract the negative perception some groups hold regarding the ‘other’ due to their isolation or segregation.  

 

The International Business College Mitrovica that we visited aims to take such an approach, encouraging Kosovar Serbs and Albanians to study and even live together.  

 

 

International Business College Mitrovica

 

In the scope of our film, we have also learned through talking to Serb-Kosovars and Albanian-Kosovars, that learning each other’s languages is of high importance for reconciliation. Through visiting different organizations during our trip, we came across one app that was mentioned several times. The app VOC-UP, launched by the International Organization for Migration, together with other partner organizations, is an interactive digital platform developed for learning Albanian and Serbian online. The language platform is designed for beginners, and provides basic lessons in vocabulary, phrases and grammatical rules. Thus, learning each other’s languages can contribute to increased interaction between both communities and limit prejudice. While the most important step would be to introduce both languages in the educational system, for many Kosovars, this still seems impossible and will not happen in any near future. At the moment, it is more likely, according to some people we spoke to, that the curriculum gets reformed and becomes less biased, but this requires good leadership.

 

 

 

VOC-UP language platform

 

While mostly the EU and other Western powers aim for reconciliation in Kosovo, I was surprised that this was not the main objective of many Kosovars. Of course, this cannot be generalized. But for many, the main priority is to have peace. Another main goal is to have a good educational system, which creates opportunities for the youth within Kosovo and does not leave them with no other choice than to migrate. For many, good education is also a prerequisite for good leaders, which are urgently needed.

 

Lastly, our talk with Roma Versitas Kosovo unveiled how segregation along ethnic lines not only exists between Serb-Kosovars and Albanian-Kosovars. It also affects minority groups like the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians on all levels. Within the educational system, these communities are especially segregated, not enjoying equal access and the same opportunities. 

 

I was shocked during our meeting with Elisabeth Gowing, the current advisor for the Prime Minister on Community Affairs. She explained how many Roma children are not accepted by schools anymore, as they are considered too old to join at the age of eight or nine. Including more ethnic minorities within educational systems hereby seems to be of the utmost importance.

 

Overall, the people and organizations we met have highlighted many struggles and issues they still face and identify in the current functioning of the country. However, they have also expressed wishes for the future which will hopefully be fulfilled. I can say that throughout this journey, I have met incredible people who have the biggest hearts. I very much respect all the work they do.