What are schools doing to help Bosnia and Herzegovina build society capital, especially among the youths?
School: A place to meet new people and learn… or not?
In a vibrant and very current commentary on education and its ability to fix inequality in Singapore, we are left questioning the benefits of compulsory, mass, and integrated education. Singapore has moved away from merely compulsory education that is non-discriminatory (Ministry of Education, 2019) towards a more integrated secondary school streaming system that attempts to mitigate the effects of characteristics that may contribute to a social divide by making the lines between the various streams more blurred.
As we look at this issue that is local and real to us, it is easy to think that that would be the easiest solution for the social divide in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Building social capital is a stepping stone towards the removal of a social divide, right? Maybe it’s not so easy…
What is going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
From a political standpoint, BiH is greatly separated wherein ethnic identities, religion, and politics have become intertwined and thus dictates how the country continues to run in a way that is not cohesive as a whole government.
In addition to this, BiH is constituted by 3 presidents, 10 cantons, and 143 municipalities. This further de-centralises the government, making on the ground decision such as the education system rather detached from the country as a whole. As a result, this leadership and the decision made from it trickles down into the education system which segregates it simply through different decisions made and the values and beliefs that follow them.
But what are Bosnian schools capable of?
The potential for the development of social capital is truly great in schools by way of opportunity to interact. Despite having a compulsory education theme in BiH that requires its youth to attend school from the ages of six to fourteen (UNESCO, 2019), unlike Singapore, it is not socially integrated as the three main ethnic groups - Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs - are schooled separately. In this way, they live very separate lives that may not otherwise overlap.
Putting this in contrast to Singapore where our education, to name a few systems, that structure interracial, interethnic, and inter-religious interaction, social capital - the networks between people that enable a society to function effectively - is given a platform that allows it to thrive by means of opportunity to interact with and undestand the different people and stakeholders of a community, where shared value and understanding creates trust (OECD, n.d.)
It becomes evident that the years spent in compulsory education are a very viable option to breed this common understanding and, thus, relationships that build communities up together. In understanding and appreciating the differences within and between communities, empathy inevitably develops.
If empathy could end wars, this could be the solution.
But if the solution is so simple, what isn’t Bosnia and Herzegovina adopting it?
Good question! Upon speaking to Dr Damir of the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Sarajevo, two things became clear:
1. Education is the capital city of Sarajevo is very different from education in less urban areas of BiH
Sarajevo is the capital city of BiH and is one of the more liberal areas of the country, according to the political science students of the University of Sarajevo. As such, schools in Sarajevo can look like those in Singapore - ethnically diverse and integrated. While this may be so, and thus social capital more easily developed in Sarajevo, it is not in the less urban areas of BiH.
In Mostar, BiH, school sessions are separated by ethnicity such that the Croats and Bosniaks do not meet each other, even studying different curriculums. This is furthered in the Serb-dominated Republika of Srpska moving towards adopting the same curriculum as Serbia, the ethnic identity they identify more with rather than their nationality of Bosnian (Kovacevic, 2018). According to Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, children build their understanding of the world in schemas (McLeod, 2018). A segregated childhood feeds into this theory and teaches children that the world is separate for the reasons taught in schools. This plays a fundamental role in the individual understandings of the world one exists in. Not to be corny but it primes the future the country will have. As they say, children are our future.
Having spent most of our time in BiH in Sarajevo, using them as an example of what the education system in BiH is not the most accurate. However, while it is very unlike the rest of BiH, we are left wondering how much of an example BiH can take from Sarajevo to reform education in a way that then benefits the melting ethnic pot of identities that is BiH. It may be unrealistic to make a direct comparison of BiH’s school and the education system to that of Singapore given the contextual differences, but comparing it to Sarajevo’s despite the intrinsic differences as a result of cantonal level clearances could be more realistic for the forward growth of BiH.
However, that being said, baby steps are still the way. An overnight overhaul would be a tall order to ask of any society.
2. An educational reform is beyond the control of good will and intention for the country
“Dr Damir,” we asked, “why doesn’t the government just work together for the betterment of the whole country, as opposed to their disconnectedness right now?”. He laughs and says “Then their party wouldn’t win.”
With 3 presidents, 10 cantons, and 143 municipalities, each with its own levels of control, the government is very decentralized. To learn more about the governance of BiH, click here! Needless to say, this decentralisation then trickles down to the educational level which in turn trickles down to the little guy on the ground.
Oh no! The problem is actually really big!
Indeed it is, the current political climate of the country trickles down into more everyday felt aspects of life and this creates an environment that promotes the division of people and communities. Where education contributes to one’s worldview.
The country and education system systematically separates people and systematically teaches them different things. To avoid using the word ‘systematically’ again, the notion of social capital is not given a platform that allows it to best thrive so that the functioning of Bosnian society can be continually improves, particularly in a post-conflict world.
Perhaps the way politics is run is a more direct reflection of how the education system runs than people would like to believe. Perhaps that is just my view as an outsider looking in.
What now?
Coming back to systems theory that suggests that systems interact with each other bidirectionally, for the education system to become an institution that functions to create a cohesive environment and prime its students to develop this on a larger scale for the functioning of society, it has to work in tandem with the larger systems that it sits in. While each canton can try to change its internal systems, which could lead towards the country’s reform, for the whole country to reform its education system, it has to be both top down and bottom up.
Where social capital can be found in schools, we are inclined to believe that in making schools more integrated, social capital can thrive and this would be the baby steps to a better BiH. However, if there is anything that life is certain of, it is that what we plan never actually turns out the way we want it to.
Social capital’s potential in BiH is sorely stifled in the education system and this is bigger than just the education system.
Read the next article “3. Role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society” to learn more about how civil society plays a part in creating social capital in BiH.
Bibliography
Kovacevic, D. (2018, May 18). Bosnian Serbs to Adopt Same School Curriculum as Serbia. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://balkaninsight.com/2018/02/26/the-same-curriculum-for-pupils-in-serbia-and-rs-02-23-2018/
McLeod, S. (2018). Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Ministry of Education. (2019, March 29). COMPULSORY EDUCATION. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/education-system/compulsory-education
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). OECD Insights: Human Capital. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://www.oecd.org/insights/37966934.pdf
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