OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint of the National Council of the Bosniak National Minority against the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (hereinafter: the Ministry). The complaint states that three textbooks for Serbian for the eighth grade of primary school contain a text stating that Serbian belongs to the South Slavic language group, noting that Croats, Bosniaks, and some Montenegrins call this language (Serbian) Croatian, Bosnian/Bosniak and Montenegrin, thus denying the existence of a minority language. The statement of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development declares that the Ministry and the Institute for the Advancement of Education have acted fully in accordance with the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System, the Law on Textbooks, and the Rulebook on Textbook Quality Standards and instructions for its use, but also according to the opinion and additional scientific explanation of the Committee for Standardization of the Serbian Language as the most prominent reference body for that area in the Republic of Serbia. During the procedure, it was determined that the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development approves the textbook manuscript at the proposal of the Institute for the Advancement of Education, that it includes approved textbooks in the textbook catalog, and also issues decisions on withdrawal of textbooks or takes other actions with the aim of changing the content of textbooks. The Ministry did not take into account that the Law on Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ​​made the Charter an integral part of the legal order of the Republic of Serbia and that, besides other laws, the Ministry must act in accordance with this law as well. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development is responsible for approving the use of textbooks in the educational process, but not for assessing the compliance of ratified international agreements with the Constitution. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued the opinion that the Ministry violated the provisions of Articles 6 and 24 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality recommended that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development take measures within its competence prescribed by the Law on Textbooks and the Rulebook on the Manner and Procedure for Giving Expert Assessment and Expert Opinion on the Quality of Textbook Manuscripts, Manuals and Teaching Materials, Additional Teaching Tools, Teaching Aids, Didactic Tools, and Didactic Game Tools, in order to change the content that Croats, Bosniaks, and some Montenegrins call this language (Serbian) Croatian, Bosnian/Bosniak, and Montenegrin, in textbooks “Language Treasure”, published by Novi Logos, “Gift of Words”, published by Novi Logos and “Serbian Language and Language Culture”, published by EDUKA.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković