WHY?

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement stopped the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and preserved its 1992 external borders, at the same time transforming the country’s political organization into two entities, ten cantons, and one district. The Agreement made no provisions for education, which remains deeply divided. As a result, there are three (Bosniak, Croat and Serb) opposing academic curricula in function. The education system offers ethnically segregated teaching, even in subjects such as maths and science. The existence of 13 ministries of education further complicates the education reform.

We advocate that education in BiH is a security issue. Segregation, discrimination and promotion of xenophobia present in the existing education system, especially in the phenomenon known as “two schools under one roof”, discourage the development of a democratic, tolerant and peaceful multiethnic BiH society. In the 54 “two schools under one roof”, students from different ethnic groups enter the same school building through different doors and rarely or never meet.

WHAT DO WE DO?

The Initiative of the United World Colleges (UWC) and International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in BiH founded the United World College in Mostar (UWCiM) in September 2006 in order to address these issues and provide a good education model to serve as a point of reference for the country’s education reform process.

WCiM aims to support the peace process in the country and the region by implementing a recognized model of post-conflict education. We actively participate in the development of post-conflict education and reform process in BiH and beyond through our cooperation with education and governmental institutions.

UWCiM is situated on the top floor of an ethnically divided school teaching two parallel curricula: Federal and Croatian. UWCiM is teaching one curriculum to groups of students of all ethnic backgrounds from BiH. The students live and study their subjects together, including the subject of history, which is a unique example in post-war BiH.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR?

The first generation of 88 students at UWCiM, consisting of 64 students from BiH and 24 students from abroad, successfully graduated in May 2008. In September 2007 we enrolled the second generation of 95 students, 54 of them from BiH. The student body of approximately 200 students in total represents 30 countries. In March 2008 the Initiative’s Executive Committee brought a decision to enroll a third generation of 100 students.

The Centre for Professional Development of BiH Teachers has so far implemented eight workshops for the professional development of teachers and four study visits to Slovenia. Thanks to the efforts of the UWC-IBO Initiative in BiH, as of September 2006 the country has two more IB schools: United World College in Mostar and Banja Luka Gymnasium, both offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) for students aged 16 to 19.