Young Albanians in Serbia Protest Over Education

Some 3,000 ethnic Albanians in South Serbia, mostly youngsters, took part in a protest rally in the town of Bujanovac, chanting: "Enough is enough".

To the sounds of popular Albanian songs, and waving flags of Albania, the US and the EU, they demanded that Serbia's Ministry of Education resolve problems in the educational curriculum that date back several years.
According to the Education Ministry, schools must teach from the same curriculum, whether it is in Serbian or Albanian.

But local leaders in the region, which has an Albanian majority, cannot agree with the ministry on exactly which textbooks to use, especially in the sensitive subject of history.

In the meantime, teachers in Albanian language elementary and high schools are still using standard Serbian textbooks, which is highly problematic as this is not the first language of most of the pupils.

"It is a shame that kids in the first grade of our elementary schools [in the South] do not even have a spelling book [in Albanian]," Fortefa Sabani, a student from Bujanovac gymnasium, told the audience.

Local Ethnic Albanian leaders were on the stage but mostly let students and pupils do the talking, so that the public could hear about their problems first hand.

Another contentious issue is recognition of university diplomas from Kosovo. Ever since Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, Serbia has not recognized degrees stamped "Republic of Kosovo" - a major issue for ethnic Albanians in the south who often finish studies in Kosovo.

Agreement between the two negotiating teams on the diploma issue is supposed to be reached in the next round of talks in Brussels.

The protest, which is the first in a planned series, passed off without incidents. The next one is supposed to be held in Presevo next week.

Education Minister Zarko Obradovic in Belgrade said that much had been done in the field of education for young Albanians in South Serbia, noting that a university department in Bujanovac is to open soon.

A department of economy, operating as part of the University of Subotica, in Serbia's northern province of Vojvidina, is about to open with classes held in Albanian.

South Serbia is still recovering from an armed conflict that broke out a decade ago between Serbian security forces and rebel ethnic Albanians fighting in the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac.

The conflict lasted from November 2000 to June 2001, when it was ended by intervention from NATO and the international community.