Evidence of Teaching Intolerances

Bosnian Serb Geography Textbook

"Republika Srpska is an independent state"
"Orthodox Christianity is the most important religion…
Muslims are Islamic Serbs while Croats and Serbs Catholics"
"The maps are showing all Serbian states…
Belgrade is the capital of all Serbs"

Bosnian Croat Geography Textbook

"Zagreb is the Croat capital"
"Muslims are ethnic group and not religion"
"Name all Croat cities in Bosnia"
"Bosnia and Herzegovina is a centuries old Croat state"

Bosnian Geography Textbook

"Bosnia and Herzegovina was always under attack from the East and West" (i.e. Serbia and Croatia)
"Muslim don't attack sacral objects-unlike others"
"Islam is the best religion"
"All the Serbs did aggression and genocide on Bosnia and Herzegovina"

Ethnic Divide

The segregated system affects not only students, but teachers as well, as they continue to be appointed based upon ethnic criteria. For instance, there is an unwritten rule that a Croat teacher cannot teach geography or history subjects in Republika Srpska, while a Serb cannot teach those subjects in the Federation. However, they can teach other, more benign subjects, such as art, mathematics, foreign languages, or physics—since schools have to fulfill ethnic "quotas".

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Teaching Intolerance

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina devised the "Two Schools Under One Roof" plan in 2000 as a temporary measure to encourage people to return to their homes, and prevent ethnic violence.

Capljina's primary school is a perfect example of a post-war Bosnian phenomenon called "Two Schools Under One Roof," mostly present in the country's Bosniak- and Bosnian Croat-dominated Federation entity. Under this concept, Bosniak and Croat pupils and teachers use the same school facilities but have no contact with one another, and follow divergent, ethnic-based curricula. In the Bosnian Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska, Bosniak and Croat returnees similarly attend their own ethnic schools.

A new leader arose by the late 1980s, a Serbian named Slobodan Milosevic, a former Communist who had turned to nationalism and religious hatred to gain power. He began by inflaming long-standing tensions between Serbs and Muslims in the independent provence of Kosovo. Orthodox Christian Serbs in Kosovo were in the minority and claimed they were being mistreated by the Albanian Muslim majority. Serbian-backed political unrest in Kosovo eventually led to its loss of independence and domination by Milosevic.

Bosnia is one of several small countries that emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia, a multicultural country created after World War I by the victorious Western Allies. Yugoslavia was composed of ethnic and religious groups that had been historical rivals, even bitter enemies, including the Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics) and ethnic Albanians (Muslims).

The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.