Abstract
The chapter presents the contemporary state of minority education in Croatia. It considers state legislation and experiences from students and teachers of minority languages, based on interviews and focus groups. Results show that the main negative aspect of minority education is the students’ feeling of segregation and ghettoisation. Other problems include lack of qualified teachers and using unofficial textbooks not approved by the Ministry of Education. Positive aspects of minority education include the possibility to continue studying in the country where the minority language is spoken, which helps to maintain language competence and identity. The chapter concludes that minority languages in the educational system is an exclusively political matter and gives recommendations for strengthening the capacities for minority language teaching and learning at all levels.
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Notes
- 1.
Decisions by the Anti-Fascist Council for National Liberation of Croatia in 1943; Yugoslav Constitution of 1963; Yugoslav Constitution of 1974.
- 2.
Cf. Act on Education in Languages and Scripts of National Minorities, 2000.
- 3.
Detailed list of schools using the A model of instruction in 2017–2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Moja%20uprava//Popis-%C5%A1kola-manjine%202017-2018.pdf.
- 4.
In 2017–2018, the B model was used in the following schools: for Czech national minority in Daruvar Gymnasium; for Hungarian national minority in Ivan Gundulić Primary School in Zagreb and Lug Primary School; and for Serbian national minority in Ernestinovo Primary School and Šodolovci Satellite School. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Moja%20uprava//Popis-%C5%A1kola-manjine%202017-2018.pdf.
- 5.
Detailed list of schools using the C model of instruction in 2017–2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Moja%20uprava//Popis-%C5%A1kola-manjine%202017-2018.pdf.
- 6.
The data concerning “minority” education in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia were taken from Čačić-Kumpes 2004, pp. 201–208.
- 7.
Czechs had their schools in villages and small towns around Daruvar, nearby Grubišno Polje, in the vicinity of Garešnica, near Požega, and in a small place of Prekopakra close to Pakrac. Slovaks had their schools in villages and small towns around Našice, in Ilok and Lipovljani. Hungarians had their schools in villages and small towns around Beli Manastir and close to Osijek. Except in Istria, Italian primary schools were also open on the islands of Cres and Lošinj, in Rijeka, Zadar and on the island of Krk.
- 8.
The notion of nationality (Croatian: nacionalnost) has been in use since the adoption of the 1963 Constitution replacing the notion of national minority (Croatian: nacionalna manjina). The intention was to avoid any connotation of subordinated nations associated with the notion of minority.
- 9.
Croatian version available at https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/predstavljeno-desetljece-za-rome-2005-2015/6804 (accessed on 9 July 2018).
- 10.
Another aggravating circumstance for the Romani language is lack of its standardisation, which is currently underway, and drafting of adequate language textbooks, which is pending.
- 11.
Hereby the authors would like to thank Dragutin Babić, PhD, for allowing them access to the project data.
- 12.
Both Markovac and Jelisavac are villages in eastern Croatian region of Slavonia.
- 13.
In villages with Romani population, Roma children most often constitute a majority in school classrooms. Owing to their low Croatian proficiency, some primary schools in Međimurje created segregated Romani classrooms. In the school year 2001–2002, there were 511 Romani pupils of the total of 865 Romani pupils in Međimurje who attended Romani classrooms. Macinec and Kuršanec Primary Schools had the greatest number of segregated pupils (83.33% and 88.49%, respectively) (Horvat 2009, p. 455).
- 14.
Interestingly enough, the decision was rendered by close majority of nine against eight judges (Novosti – sedam dana, no. 535, 20 March 2010, Novosti – sedam dana, no. 537, 2 April 2010).
- 15.
The interview was downloaded from: http://romi.hr/fokus/hrvatska/desegregacijom-do-integracije (accessed on 18 July 2018).
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Lewis, K., Skelin Horvat, A., Škiljan, F. (2020). For Whom the School Bell Tolls: Minority Language Politics in the Croatian Educational System. In: Strani, K. (eds) Multilingualism and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40701-8_12
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