Religious education for a plural society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Intersections between separate school systems, religious actors and public institutions

The inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts of the 1990s and the subsequent Dayton Accords (Fischer, 2006) signed in 1995 led Bosnia and Herzegovina to a clear division in public space between Bosnian-Muslims, Serbian-Orthodox and Croatian-Catholics. Infact, in addition to ending the conflict, Dayton Accords crystallized the existing divisions establishing by law the division of institutions and territory on an ethnic-religious basis. “Dayton served to stop war, but not to build peace”: a statement often pronounced by citizens, which well explains the country's last three decades. Today, the country is governed by a tripartite structure (Alicino 2016) and organized in a ‘separate school system’: students of different ethnic and religious groups have hardly any opportunities for confrontation and discussion about issues related to religious diversity. 

The paper aims to offer an overview on the evolution of religious education in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the adoption of the Vidovdan Constitution (1921) stating that «religious education is provided separately, according to the religious affiliation and precepts of the parents» (Marusic, 2011) to the 2000s OECD experimentation of the subject  Religious culture, a critical teaching about the four main religions most widely practiced in the country. The teaching aimed to promote the knowledge of religions through the lens of history, culture and society, curricula developed with the advice of  Sarajevo Interfaith Council, in order to foster in students a spirit of interreligious tolerance and mutual understanding (Kostresevic, 2016). 

In this sense, the contribution also aims to illustrate some interreligious educational projects and teachings about religions in Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed in the last decade by some Catholic institutions and Third Sector associations, as peacekeeping and reconciliation tools, but also as a means of legitimizing and strengthening the mediation role of the Catholic Church in the political dynamics of the territory. In particular, the paper will present the following projects:

• The Italian-Bosnian Mir Sutra project, promoted by Acli and Caritas Italiana in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which includes a tour of Remembrance at the historical and emblematic sites of the 20th century conflicts and a tour of Reconciliation through visits to the places of worship in Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• The Koracajmo/Let's step forward together project, promoted by the John Paul II Youth Pastoral Centre, involving meetings in schools, visits to places of worship and ecumenical summer camps;
• The teaching of History of Religions, promoted by the Interethnic Catholic Schools for Europe in Sarajevo, Tuzla and Zenica.

In particular, it will be explored how the Interethnic Catholic Schools for Europe tried to oppose the tripartite system of education by offering Croats, Serbs and Bosnians the opportunity to attend the same classroom. These private but free schools, recognised by the respective Ministries, offer pupils and their families the freedom to choose whether to attend the denominational education of the religion/confession to which they belong, i.e. Catholic, Orthodox or Islamic and, at the same time, the compulsory classes of History of Religions that they have to attend together. The paper will illustrate the educational program of this teaching,  which among its objectives is also to increase  students' sense of European citizenship (Ćosić, 2019).

Endnotes:

Francesco Alicino,  Religions and Ethno-Religious Differences in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From Laboratories of Hate to Peaceful Reconciliation in «Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale», Rivista telematica (www.statoechiese.it), n. 37/2016, 21 novembre 2016.

Mario Ćosić, Preside della Scuola Cattolica “St. Joseph” di Sarajevo, al Simposio The Catholic School and the Intercultural and Interreligious Challenges, Bruxelles, 14–15 Marzo 2019.

Martina Fischer, Peacebuilding and Civil Society in Bosnia Herzegovina. Ten Years after Dayton, Münster: Lit-Verlag, 2006.

Milan Kostresevic, Interreligious Dialogue in Bosnia-Herzegovina, University of Berne, 2016.

Lara Marusic, Religious Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Università di Oslo, 2011.